CAIRO,
August 19 (IslamOnline.net) – The international concern over the
raging conflict in the western Sudan's troubled Darfur does not emerge
from humanitarian duties but rather it represents a soft face of the old
imperialism, a leading British newspaper said Wednesday, August 18.
Peter
Hallward wrote in The Guardian that before reaching a conclusion
that the British and US concern over Darfur is the consequence of the
western new-found humanitarian duties, the world has to remember that
this was not the first time the foreign powers intervene in the region.
He
urges the western powers, especially Britain and the US to fund an
immediate and forceful deployment of AU peacekeepers in the troubled
region and enhance the AU ability to reach a political solution to the
conflict rather than threatening intervention in the war-torn region.
The
writer recalls that Britain had launched in the 19th
century a "moral crusade" against Sudan under the name
"war against slavery", leading to a long-standing division
between a relatively prosperous Muslim northern territory and the much
poorer southern territory, mainly inhabited by Christians and animists.
Following
the British intervention in the African country, a ferocious war broke
up between the northern and southern territories even before the British
left the country in 1956, he said.
The
war reached its peak in the late 70s due to the American backing to the
regime of the General Gaafar Nimeiri, leading to more instability in the
African state, he added.
Hallward
said that in reaction to the US intervention in Sudan's affairs, a new
regime took over power in 1989, turning against the US intervention in
Sudan and strengthening the divisive enforcement of Islamic law and
devoting new resources to the assault on the underdeveloped south.
The
writer said that since the 9/11 attacks on the US and the war on Iraq,
Sudan has done utmost efforts to avoid more US interference through
providing the US with a steady stream of much-vaunted intelligence
bowing to US pressures on holding peace talks with south Sudan's rebels
to establish peace in southern Sudan.
