Saturday, October 15, 2005

Darfur explained - the REAL story?

Want to know why the FRENCH(oppose UN sanctions) and CHINA(abstains on Darfur UN vote) are being such assholes in the UN about Sudan? You see, Sudan has oil - quite a lot of it, and quite a bit of refining capability along the coast as well.

Being the treacherous weasles they are, the French would not jeopardize their claim to a $200B deal over a bunch of dirt poor folks down in the south. The Chinese are squishy on the genocide thing at the UN for the same reason O.I.L.

If one were just a tad conspiracy theory oriented, it would be easy to imagine a French/Chinese/Khartoum scheme to eliminate John Garang(check!) and eliminate the people who were supporting his movement(in progress, semi-check!) so the Garang/White Nile deal could be completely disavowed by the Khartoum government. After all, these are the same wonderful folks who bombed the Rainbow Warrior.

The French and Chinese are also looking to get "cozy" in WEAPONS SALES. Note that this French push for the Chinese weapons sales thing occurs in early 2004 -- coincidentally this is roughly the same time John Garang is putting together the White Nile deal with the Brits and roughly the same time the Janjaweed crew kicks into high gear eradicating/dislocating Garang supporters in the south. Pure coincidence? Maybe, maybe not...

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

BBC ARTICLE
Garang played an important role in a deal that gives White Nile a 60% stake in developing the Block Ba oil concession, a region thought to contain $200bn worth of untapped oil at current prices...

...founded by a former star of the England cricket team, Phil Edmonds, who developed a strong working relationship with the ex-rebel leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement...The company says Garang's death won't affect its exploration concession as the deal it signed is backed by other high-ranking figures in southern Sudan's semi-autonomous government...

...Meanwhile, the French oil giant Total claims to have rights over the same area under a 1980 agreement it signed with the other side in the civil war - the national Sudanese government.
Further, we see Garang disavowing the French claim to the oil fields HERE (gasandoil.com)
Total, along with partners Marathon and Kuwait Petroleum, says it is confident it will regain access to the stake, which it abandoned in 1984 after an employee was killed in civil-war related violence. Total executives say the central government is the only authorized body to grant oil concessions and that the provisional government of South Sudan wasn't a legal entity when it signed with White Nile.
Garang disagrees: "Total can cling to whatever (reasons) they like. We will cling to the oil, because it is ours."
THE CHINA CONNECTION

Harvard University feels strongly enough about the Chinese connection to the Darfur slaughter that they move to divest university investments in PetroChina in April 2005

The HARVARD GAZETTE had this to say about the divestiture action:
...Oil production is widely understood to be a crucial source of revenue for the Sudanese government, essential to the government's capacity to fund military operations, and an asset of exceptional strategic importance to the regime. According to a recent report of the U.S. Department of Energy, "With the start of significant oil production (and exports) beginning in late 1999, . . . . Sudan's economy is changing dramatically, with oil export revenues now accounting for around 73% of Sudan's total export earnings." [Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, Sudan Country Analysis Brief, July 2004.] As of January 2004, Sudan's estimated proven reserves of crude oil stood at 563 million barrels, more than twice the 2001 estimate. As of June 2004, crude oil production had risen to 345,000 barrels per day, up from 270,000 barrels per day just a year earlier. [Ibid.]...


Stay tuned - this saga will be updated as I find more

14 comments:

Ingrid J. Jones said...

Interesting, thank you. Thought you might be interested in a copy of these four posts from my Sudan Watch blog archives. Please let me know if you post on the Sudan again and I will link to it.

Thursday, June 09, 2005
Friedhelm Eronat is behind Cliveden Sudan and Darfur oil deal - It's blood for oil in Southern Sudan
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2005/06/friedhelm-eronat-is-behind-cliveden.html

Friday, June 10, 2005
Friedhelm Eronat and Cliveden Sudan named as buyer of Darfur oil rights
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2005/06/friedhelm-eronat-and-cliveden-sudan.html

Friday, June 17, 2005
Chinese sign up with Eronat's Cliveden and Canada's Encana to explore oil in Chad
Cliveden's oil deal with Chinese forces Canada's EnCana out of Chad
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2005/06/chinese-sign-up-with-eronats-cliveden.html

Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Friedhelm Eronat's oil deals in Darfur, Sudan
Following on from previous posts about Friedhelm Eronat (a Bavarian born US citizen, recently turned British citizen, doing deals with the Chinese and Sudanese governments on oil exploration in Darfur) here is a copy of a report by Adrian Gatton, one of Britain's top investigative journalists, published in London's Evening Standard:
Secret World of the Chelsea Oil Tycoon
By Adrian Gatton 26 May 2005 London Evening Standard
http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2005/07/friedhelm-eronats-oil-deals-in-darfur.html

Anonymous said...

These are questions people in Congress need to start asking instead of just fawning over the minor support the US/NATO has given to the AU's poorly planned and authorized mission.

I am definitely going to be reading these links though, I had heard rumors but not seen stories...

By the way, Purple Avenger, may I linke to this as a submission to the Spotlight on Darfur 2 that I'm hosting on Monday? This is a good post other people interested in Darfur should read.

http://fdnf.typepad.com/live_from_the_fdnf/2005/10/submissions_wel.html

Always On Watch said...

We don't hear much about China's involvement these days.

Anonymous said...

Assuming my "ignorance" is quite offensive. You may want to try a different approach. When engaging with people.

Purple Avenger said...

Assuming my "ignorance" is quite offensive.

Maybe you need a dictionary.

Anonymous said...

Genocide studies, sociology, public policy, public administration and working in government qualifies me enough... tons of internet research and trivial insults, does not suffice in public discourse dear. Censorship is not what is happening when I delete your comments. It's simply not allowing for juvinile insults. I will not have some ideological pissing contest with you.

Purple Avenger said...

All I did was post THIS LINK to the USAID web site information on US Aid to the Darfur region which refuted your claims that we do nothing.

I suspect you simply have a problem with the truth when it contradicts your own belief system.

Purple Avenger said...

Since annon has chosen not to reveal themselves here, THIS IS THE BLOG IN QUESTION and this is the quote the blog writer write that I have a problem with: "...Don't you think a little more assistance might be called for here? I mean, they've only been screaming for help since the beginning of TIME... how bout some shelter? maybe some medical care? maybe some nutritional goods? maybe some mercy? Nope, not the US, our government thinks you should be able to buy that shit all by YOself... I continue to be embarrassed."

As anyone with any intellectual honest can see, by following the USAID link, the USA has done a lot in Darfur. We've pumped in over $700,000,000 dollars of humanitarian aid in the past few years.

Purple Avenger said...

Further, the US is involved militarily in the air transport of AU peacekeeping troops and support systems to the region.

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