North Sudan army takes control of oil-rich Abyei, raising prospects of war

For those of you who are not up on Sudan, here is how it breaks down. The Northern part of Sudan is ruled by an Arab Muslim government, who has used an African-based militia named the Janjaweed as an attack force against the Christians and the Animists in the Southern region of the Sudan.


Earlier this year, a lot of my Pollyanna leftie friends got orgasm rashes over the fact that there was going to be a vote and, in theory, the Southern Sudanese were going to be able to determine their own fate. These same Pollyanna leftie friends of mine tend to believe that the conflict in the Sudan is "complicated"; that the Muslim North does not kill the Christians and Animists merely because they are Infidels, but over oil, which is of course a knee-jerk retreat to the old Leftie argument of Economic Determinism. 


Let me tell you something I have learned over the years: The word "Complicated", in Leftie speak means, "It's unpleasant and I don't want to think about it anymore."


Lefties always pull out the word "Complicated", or it's brother in fishnets, "Complex", when they are face with facts that don't fit neatly onto the Economic Deterministic template they use to understand the world.


Also, Lefties seem to feel that when they pull out the word "Complicated", simply using the word magically absolves them of all moral culpability. in the case that their latest Socialist solution does not solve the problem.


Idiots. 


There will be a special circle of hell for this type of Pollyanna do-gooders.

(Al-Arabia).The northern Sudanese army has taken control of main town of the disputed oil-producing Abyei region, the state television reported late on Saturday, adding that President Omar Hassan Al Bashir had ordered the dissolution of the region’s administrative council.

UN spokeswoman Hua Jiang earlier said Sudan had deployed around 15 tanks in Abyei. The spokesman said that gunshots could be heard in the town but it was unclear what exactly was happening. 

Shooting broke out late Thursday as UN peacekeepers escorted 200 northern Sudan Armed Forces out of the contested area, with both armies accusing each other of starting the fight.

The north and the south have blamed each other for starting the fight.

For all but 11 years since Sudan became independent in 1956, a civil war has been fought in the country, Africa’s largest by land mass. Abyei contributes more than a quarter of Sudan’s daily oil production of 480,000 barrels. Sudan’s proven crude oil reserves are nearly 2 billion barrels.

The south is important to the north because that’s where most of the country’s oil is produced. But refineries are in the north, as is the main pipeline carry oil for exports.

Fighting in Abyei has pitted former civil war enemies against each other since January when it was due to vote on its future alongside a referendum on the south's secession.

But the plebiscite was postponed indefinitely as the north and south disagreed on who should be eligible to vote in an area where conflicted loyalties and land disputes keep tensions high.

The Abyei Area covers 10,460 kilometers in the State of Northern Bahr el Ghazal in South Sudan. The issue of whether Abyei will remain a part of Northern Sudan or secede with the South is heavily contested between the North and South. As Abyei is home to both the ethnically Southern Dinka Ngok and the ethnically Northern Misseriya who rely on Abyei to graze their animals.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 determined that the question of whether Abyei should remain with Sudan or secede with the South should be decided through a referendum. However, while a referendum has been agreed it has not been conducted due to a dispute between the Northern and Southern Governments.  

Philip Aguer, spokesman for the south’s army, told Agence France-Presse that fighting continued for a third day and accused the north’s Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) of bombing raids. “The SAF have bombed several places in Abyei,” the SPLA spokesman said.

The United Nations called on Saturday for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” in Sudan’s contested border region

The UN also urged all parties to “protect civilians” and called for “withdrawal of all unauthorized forces” from the area, in line with earlier agreements.

Hmmmmm........Who would have guessed that the Islamitic North would start to fight?Yeah .....Exactly the 'religion of peace'.

Read the full story here.