Why Khartoum Wants War In Sudan

Both sides must agree to withdraw all troops and allow for U.N. troops to police the territory until the dispute over the territory can be resolved through an international tribunal.

[Black Star News Editorial]

As the world’s attention is focused on North Africa and the Middle East due to the escalating conflicts in Libya, Yemen, and Syria –and one brewing between the Palestinians and Israel– a new war could soon erupt in the Sudan.

It’s not a coincidence that Khartoum has seized the disputed oil-rich territory of Abyei right on the eve of Southern Sudan’s independence. The territory is contested by Southern Sudan and Northern Sudan. The South will become an independent country in a few weeks.

The two regions fought a war of almost half a century, leading to the deaths of more than two million, mostly Southern Sudanese. The Abyei dispute threatens to escalate and disrupt the careful and long negotiations that ended the war between North and South and paved the way for imminent independence.

Khartoum must not be allowed to provoke full scale war in the Sudan. Khartoum has never been comfortable with the prospects of losing control over the rich oil fields of Southern Sudan and the revenues that developed the North and sustained a huge military.

The matter must be brought before the United Nations Security Council immediately. Both sides must agree to withdraw all troops and allow for U.N. troops to police the territory until the dispute over the territory can be resolved through an international tribunal.

Khartoum would prefer war, so as to disrupt the independence and future development of South Sudan. This must not be allowed.


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