Darfur bogey attempts to bifurcate Muslim Sudan & cut Iranian supplies to Palestine

Posted on 03 April 2009. Tags: Darfur, Iran, Israel, Sudan

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The school children of American know more about the problems in Darfur, than the atrocities committed in Occupied Palestine. Darfur is an oil producing area and it is important to Sudan. Sudan itself is of strategic to Iran. Teheran flush with Petro-Dollars supports the government, the people and the integrity of Sudan. This sentiment is shared by the African Union, as well as the Organizaiton of Islamic Conferences.

Sudan, Africa’s largest chunk of land and the most backward, is inhabited by many diverse ethnic groupings comprising of many social, religious and cultural identities. In a nutshell, the country is multicultural, multi-lingual, multi-religious and mutli-ethnic political culture. Given this extraordinary multifaceted asset of heterogeneity and/or multiculturalism, it should be Sudan’s strongest asset rather than a weakness. Nowadays, however, scholars and the power elite described the Sudan as the ‘melting pot’ or “the little Africa” or the rainbow coalition of variant kaleidoscopic population of more than 30 million. THE SOURCES OF CONFLICT BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH IN SUDAN By Associate Professor David de Chand, Ph.D.

Recently Israel attacked a Sudan, ostensibly bombing a convoy of truck makings its way from Iran to Palestine. Israel has neither denied, nor accpeted the charge. Sudan, overwhlemed with mercenaries fighitng the government of Preisident Bashir has not raised the issue at the United Nations.

Sudan Believed to Play Key Role in Iranian Efforts to Deliver Weapons to Hamas. Reports that Israel may have carried out an air attack on an Iranian weapons convoy in the Sudanese desert 2.5 months ago have drawn attention to an alleged Iranian arms smuggling network in Africa. Sudan is believed to be playing a key role in Iranian efforts to deliver weapons to militant Hamas fighters in Gaza.

Israeli officials have refused to confirm or deny reports that their fighter bombers, backed by unmanned drones, carried out the attack in Sudan in January as Israeli forces and Hamas engaged in pitch battles in Gaza.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir review Sudanese army soldiers during his visit to Darfur’s capital of al-Fasher, Sudan, 23 Jul 2008

U.S. news reports, quoting unnamed U.S. and Israeli sources, say the air strikes targeted a convoy of arms-laden trucks traveling in the eastern part of Sudan near the Egyptian border. The remote, underdeveloped area is home to nomadic Bedouins and is a well known route for smugglers.

Reva Bhalla, Director of Analysis at Stratfor Global Intelligence Company in the United States, says it is not clear whether Israel has targeted such convoys before in Sudan. But she says Iran has been smuggling weapons from Sudan into Egypt for quite some time.

“It is a very practical supply route for the Iranians to use,” said Reva Bhalla. “The arms market in Sudan is thriving and acts as a very easy way for Iran to send agents, mainly through Hezbollah, to come under false passports into Sudan, buy those arms, and transport them primarily via trucks across Sudan and into the Sinai Peninsula, where they can pay off local Bedouins with all sorts of things to get those arms into the Hamas underground tunnel network into Gaza.” VOA. Alleged Israeli Attack Draws Attention to Sudan’s Ties to Iran By Alisha Ryu, Nairobi, 01 April 2009

Iran has been cooperating with Sudan for several years and has influnce in Africa.

March 7, 2008 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan and Iran signed a military cooperation agreement at the end of a second round of negotiations between defence ministers of the two countries.

Abdelarhim M. Hussein Sudanese and visiting Iranian delegations on March 4 started talks on military cooperation between the two countries in order to bolster bilateral military relations. The two countries started talks on military cooperation in January 2007.

The two countries signed an agreement on cooperation in the fields of technology, education, science, industry and exchange of expert delegations as well as establishment of military cooperation commission.

The agreement was signed by Iran’s Defence Minister Mustafa Mohamed Najjar and his Sudanese counterpart Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein.

The two sides underlined development and consolidation of defensive ties between Iran and Sudan and called it an important step toward strengthening peace, stability and security in the region and international arena.

Abdulrahim in a joint press conference with Iranian Minister of Defence today Friendship Hall said that the visit of Iranian Minister is a chance to push the relations of cooperation between the two countries to advanced prospects particularly in the areas of technology and science pointing to the distinguished political relations between Khartoum and Tehran. Sudan Tribune

The US Israeli plan for Sudan is to bifurcate the country its continued thrust to balkanize Africa into small principalities.

Arms researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Pieter Wezeman, says Sudan is awash in arms from Iran.

“For example, weapons have been sighted during military parades,” said Pieter Wezeman. “They clearly are Iranian-produced weapons. The quantities involved and also the time involved are very difficult to find information about. But it seems over the past 10 years, Iran has supplied a constant supply of weapons to Sudan.”

Another report released by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy last month says Iran may also be sending arms overland to Egypt through a variety of routes in Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Africa. The authors say the shipments are gathered in Sudan and then moved through the Sinai Peninsula into Gaza.

Omar Hassan el-Bashir’s Cooperation with Iran no Secret to West

If the Khartoum government of President Omar Hassan el-Bashir is cooperating with Tehran, it comes as little surprise to the West. Sudan has had close relations with Iran since 1989, when a military coup brought el-Bashir to power.

At the time, Iran was emerging from an eight-year war with neighboring Iraq and was looking for allies in the Sunni Muslim-Arab world. Many analysts believe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps played a major role in helping el-Bashir consolidate power by training and giving logistical support to the new Sudanese army.

Reva Bhalla says the Sunni Arab-dominated Sudanese government and Iran’s Shi’ite government have maintained close ties because they are focused on a shared anti-U.S./anti-Israel agenda, not on their sectarian differences. She notes that Sudan is part of a wider pro-Iranian regional alliance, which includes Syria, Qatar, and militant Islamic groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas.

“Iran loves to flaunt its ability to reach out to Sunni Arab powers in this region to show that it does not have to be limited to its Persian Shi’ite identity – that it has the Islamist leverage to reach out far beyond its border and exert its influence elsewhere,” she said. “That is why we see, despite Iran being a Shi’ite power, it has very close ties to Hamas, a radical Sunni power. And that very much alarms the Sunni-Arab powers in the region, most notably the Egyptians and the Saudis, who all have an interest in keeping Hamas contained and the Iranians at bay.”

At the annual Arab League summit in Qatar this week, Arab leaders, except Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who did not attend, united behind President el-Bashir by rejecting the decision of the International Criminal Court to indict the Sudanese leader over alleged war crimes in Darfur. An international warrant was issued for el-Bashir’s arrest in early March.

Analysts speculate that some Arab powers, concerned about the rising clout of Iran in the region, may now urge President al-Bashir to distance himself from Tehran in exchange for their support in fighting the indictment.

Helmoed Heitman with Jane’s Defence Weekly magazine says he believes the Israeli air strike on Sudanese soil may cause the government in Khartoum to move even closer to Tehran. Heitman says there are rumors circulating in Sudan that intelligence sources in Egypt had leaked the information about the weapons convoy to Israel.

“I suspect it is going to make them paranoid about who leaked the movement of the stuff through their territory and possibly trigger greater hostility between Sudan and Egypt,” said Helmoed Heitman.

On Wednesday, President el-Bashir arrived in Saudi Arabia from Qatar, marking the 5th state visit he has made since the international warrant for his arrest was issued. VOA. Alleged Israeli Attack Draws Attention to Sudan’s Ties to Iran By Alisha Ryu, Nairobi, 01 April 2009

Sudan uses its oil to purchase arms from a variety of sources and from the open market.

In response to a question about Sudan’s importation of weapons, Abdelrahim said: “There is no [UN] decision to ban Sudan from importing armament, we import weapons from all countries except Western countries.”

The UN resolution 1591 issued by the UN Security Council imposes arms embargo on Darfur region. A panel of experts in April 2007 recommends that the Security Council expand the arms embargo to the entire territory of the Sudan.

Najjar said, “Expansion of ties with Islamic and African countries, especially brotherly and friendly country of Sudan, is on top of Iran’s foreign policy agenda.

“Iran supports independence and sovereignty of Sudan and condemns enemies interferences in domestic affairs of the country and expresses its readiness for cooperation in different fields,” he concluded. Sudan Tribune

If Israel continues to aggresively attack convoys in Sudan this will further destabilize the country. Many in Sudan blame Israel and the West for supporting the rebels so that they can take the oil rich South away from Khartoum.