Inside Story - Is Sudan ready for the referendum?

[JRM733]

"Afghanistan's mineral wealth is now a key factor in the debate over how and when international forces can draw down their operations."

Hmmm.....If only there was a way to place a monetary value on PEOPLE in Africa. We could look on them as a portable workforce and buy and trade them on the open markets. Perhaps transporting them thousands of miles by cargo ship and those that live could work for free... Is it just me or does this sound vaguely familiar?

[JRM733]

Waking up and finding that your country is not really the 'good guys' is heart-breaking. I think I understand why we are involved in the Sudan now, it's the same reason we will remain in Afghanistan for an "undetermined" amount of time. You're right, it's about resources.

From the Huffington Post:

"Afghanistan's extractive sector, rich in copper, lithium and gold as well as oil, gas, coal and various gemstones, also has a legacy of corruption and inefficiency."

[StLouisSouth1]

Terrific. Now we'll have a fundamentalist Shar'ia North Sudan with persecuted Christian and animist minorities and an anarchic South Sudan. Terrific. The US State Dept always loves new countries, though. Hire more people.

[kingwaldo100]

what is a referremdem, does this story effect david camerrooon or tony blair

[southsudanvoice]

Free South Sudan. 

[dontevergas]

i pray we look back at this and know that it was the best thing for the south, for too long their people and resources have been pillaged by the north, the south just need sovereignty and the ability to gain from their own resources. think of it an oil rich nation and in the south there exists only one traffic light.

[ThePhillemon]

Southern Sudan should separate themselves from Arabs Jenjahud. But if the Northern government of Jelaba is intending to wage war to South sudan, they have to believe that they will totaly lose this time and many Jalabas will be some where as refugee as the southerners did during the last 22 yrs. Now it is a turn for Northerners to become refugees.

[southsudanvoice]

dirty politics.. but a free south sudan by all means is needed??

[itstopcatbitch]

if the Messiriya are Arabs

does Abyei sound like an Arabic \word

[Esenadus]

I am for South Sudan separation. way to go south sudan!!! btw, Abyei belong to Ngok Dinka. Even the word "Abyei" itself is a Dinka word for one unique tree. So the claimed that Messiriya are residents of Abyei as well is totally false.

[mauawangu]

South Sudan must separete from the northern arabs who have ill treated them for long.

[TheEviIOyo]

I knew this was going to happen, I knew they wouldn't lwt them have their own country with oil.

[youngbuck189]

What the people democratically vote for is what should be considered viable, nothing else. 

[wabdinur]

@youngbuck189

Don't forget about your civil war. Find me any nation that would easily give up their bread basket region. I'm for one Sudan.

[JRM733]

@wabdinur I am just learning enough about this to even have a semi-informed opinion, but you made an excellent point. And, if another military force had stepped in to protect a "neutral zone or buffer zone" during the U.S. civil war, all hell would have broken loose. It is my prayer for the Sudan that this works and it is my most sincere hope that U.S. involvement is not simply about access to oil.

[wabdinur]

@JRM733

The problem for the Sudanese president is that if the South separates-other regions might also follow. Darfur is another volatile region. Africa has lots of separatist movements that were harshly repressed but if South Sudan separates then you might see other separatist movements breaking out. Would Ethiopia agree to a new nation next to them while their army are fighting to suppress an ethnic Somali separatist movement in the Ogaden region? Would Nigeria (Biafra separatists)?

[JRM733]

@wabdinur Again, excellent points. It's not that I am heartless, it's just the opposite. Why was Senator Kerry sent to represent the US about a voting process when 3000 miles away there are remaining piracy captives and when we have blatantly turned our backs on the rape/violence and HIV crisis of Africa for this long. While we help with another attempt at partition, Sudan tops the list of countries in need of aid with Unicef calling for $150m of need. Are any of these people safer this way?

[wabdinur]

@JRM733

Africans only matter when we discover much coveted resources under their feet. No one cared about Sudan`s 50-year civil war between the north and the south until oil was discovered and China became its main client (that`s when we all saw the crocodile tears for Darfur). My worry is that the new south Sudanese government might follow the steps of other corrupt African states where they misappropriate their country`s oil profits. Maybe if we discovered oil in Somalia...we`d go inland.

[wabdinur]

@JRM733

It`s pretty ironic that Sudan requires foreign aid considering it could do more for itself if the sanctions that were placed on her was lifted. I think that`s what Sen. Kerry is there for-to offer a carrot to the Sudanese government if they let the south peacefully secede (take Sudan out of the state sponsored terrorists list and lift the sanctions placed on Sudan).

[micahgee]

LOL @ the guest with the striped shirt, those colors are giving me a seizure

[DSNCB919]

seperation likley equals war