Desperate EU Emboldens Murderous Sudan

This post provides extra detail on the EU-Sudan deal mentioned in Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 360, “SUDAN: War and Famine, Impunity and EU Funding”, by Elizabeth Kendal, 8 June 2016.

Desperate EU Emboldens Murderous Sudan.
By Religious Liberty Analyst, Elizabeth Kendal, 8 June 2016.

Humanitarian organisations, Christian ministries and compassionate individuals that have long supported the persecuted church and other victims of Khartoum’s murderous Islamist regime – through the second civil war (1983-2005), the first Nuba Genocide (1990-1993), and now into the third civil war and second Nuba Genocide (from May-June 2011 to the present day) – will be horrified to learn that the murderous Government of Sudan (GoS) will soon be in receipt of funds from the desperate European Union (EU).

As the Sudan Tribune reports: “Sudan has been under EU sanctions since the 1989 coup d’état and didn’t receive any development aid from Europe. . . However, the European body reconsidered its position following the weaves of illegal migrants from Syria, Iraq, and Horn of Africa countries.”

On 23 March 2016, the ambassadors of the EU’s 28 member states attended a secret meeting in which they agreed to work together with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to stop the flow of refugees to Europe.

According to Germany’s Der Spiegel, “the leading diplomats that day discussed a plan that the EU member states had agreed to: They would work together with dictatorships around the Horn of Africa in order to stop the refugee flows to Europe -- under Germany’s leadership.

“. . . The EU's new action plan for the Horn of Africa provides the first concrete outlines: For three years, €40 million ($45 million) is to be paid out to eight African countries from the Emergency Trust Fund, including Sudan.” [Also includes Eritrea.]

As the main focus of the project is border protection, “equipment is to be provided to the countries in question.”

The EU will send “cameras, scanners and servers for registering refugees” to Sudan, despite the fact that the GoS is profoundly repressive and a known sponsor of international terrorism; and despite the fact that Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is a confirmed human rights abuser known to torture prisoners.

The EU will also help train Sudanese border police and assist with “the construction of two camps with detention rooms for migrants”, despite knowing that GoS officials and military personnel are known to be deeply involved in the human trafficking business, including the selling of Eritrean refugees – many of whom are Christians fleeing religious persecution – to those who transport them to the Sinai where they are tortured for ransom.

According to Der Spiegel, “The German development agency GIZ [a government enterprise] is expected to coordinate the project.”

Mark Kersten reports for The Washington Post: “Sudanese officials have apparently told their German counterparts that migrants who are put into the camps will stay there indefinitely, insisting that ‘[t]he goal is that the refugees won’t leave the new camps’.”

In other words, desperate Germany will help criminal Khartoum build what are essentially two concentration camps for refugees and migrants, despite the fact that Khartoum’s government-administered “peace camps” (as the camps for displaced are called) have traditionally made receipt of food conditional upon conversion to Islam. 

Further to this, on 5 April, the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, visited Khartoum to formally announce a €100 million ($112 million) aid package to Sudan. The official EU press release reads:  

“During a visit to Sudan today [5 April], EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica will discuss increased EU cooperation with Sudan on issues of common interest.  He will also announce a €100 million Special Measure for the country, to be implemented under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. . .

“The new funding will focus on reducing poverty, promoting peace and good governance, supporting the creation of jobs and improving the delivery of basic services (such as education and health) in areas affected by insecurity and experiencing large migratory flows. It will target the peripheral and conflict-affected areas such as Darfur, East Sudan and the Transitional Areas of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.”

So Khartoum will receive a $112 million aid package to “address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement” in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, despite the fact that Khartoum IS the root cause of irregular migration and forced displacement from Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The EU will expect Khartoum to curb migration from these conflict areas by means of reducing poverty, promoting peace, creating jobs and delivering services, despite the fact that Khartoum is actively engaged in and committed to ethnic cleansing.

Commissioner Mimica’s statement reads like a fantasy: “Our new support of €100 million will essentially focus on improving the living conditions for those who call Sudan home, helping returnees to the country to reintegrate back into society. . .” 

It is as Magnus Taylor, Horn of Africa analyst with the International Crisis Group, explained to IRIN: “Sudan is not only important as a major transit route north to Europe, it is also a producer of migrants. But if your job is to stop people arriving in Europe and to come up with a deal to reduce those numbers, then your interest in the internal politics of Sudan may be secondary.”

This desperate EU deal will embolden the murderous Islamist regime in Khartoum, which will see the deal as a green light to escalate war, jihad, aerial bombardments and the engineering of famine, along with human trafficking, forced conversions and all manner of racial and religious hatred-inspired abuse and persecution.

Some key reports:

Questionable Deal: EU to Work with African Despot to Keep Refugees Out
By Jürgen Dahlkamp and Maximilian Popp, Der Spiegel, 13 May 2016.

In Attempt to Manage Refugee Crisis, E.U. Seeks to Work With Repressive African Gov’ts
By James Carstensen, CNSnews, 17 May 2016

Why the EU migration deal with Sudan is so dodgy
By Nanjala Nyabola and Obi Anyadike, IRIN, 26 May 2016

Sudan’s president was indicted. Why isn’t he paying any price?
By Mark Kersten, The Washington Post, 26 May 2016

EU considering working with Sudan and Eritrea to stem migration
By Jennifer Rankin in Brussels, and Patrick Kingsley in Istanbul, The Guardian, 7 June 2016

** The international embrace of Khartoum’s genocidal regime **
     By Eric Reeves, Sudan Tribune, 26 May 2016

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat.
http://www.turnbackthebattle.com/thebook.html

Elizabeth Kendal’s new book, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, is presently being published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA) and will be available shortly.

Vietnam Gets Green Light to Escalate Repression and Persecution

by Religious Liberty Analyst, Elizabeth Kendal, 3 June 2016

On 16 December 2015, Vietnam's internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer and religious liberty advocate Nguyen Van Dai (47) was re-arrested, just days after being violently assaulted.

On 10 May 2016, his wife, Mrs Vu Minh Khanh, presented her testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, chaired by religious liberty champion, Rep. Chris Smith.

After explaining that her husband has already suffered four years imprisonment (March 2007-2011) followed by four years house arrest (to March 2015) on account of his human rights advocacy, Mrs Vu Minh Khanh proceeded to plead her husband's case.

Mrs Vu Minh Khanh,  Washington, 10 May 2016
testimony: pdf     /   c-span video of proceedings

“My husband has been detained for almost 5 months now,” lamented Khanh, “yet I have not received any information about him. He is at present also not allowed to meet with any family members nor with his defense lawyers because the authorities claim that he is under investigation for ‘violating national security.’

“. . . In 2000, my husband officially began his activism and fought for freedom of religion and was a human rights lawyer. . . Thereafter, my husband provided free legal services to Christians who were oppressed based on their religion, those who fought for democracy and human rights who are harassed and detained, victims of land grabs or home lost, and to people who were physically attacked and arbitrarily detained. He lead training courses about human rights at his law office.

“. . . he always fervently tried to fight for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly through non-violent methods and through providing education on human rights. . . Throughout his human rights activism, my husband was constantly followed, threatened, harassed and beaten. My husband is currently charged under Article 88 of the Penal Code [“conducting propaganda against the state”] and faces 3 to 20 years imprisonment.

“. . . My husband has worked hard to protect human rights and these activities cannot possibly be seen as criminal. Therefore, I hope that Congress and the U.S. government will help demand for his immediate and unconditional release.

“I sincerely thank you for spending time to listen to my husband’s case.”

“Epic Failure in Diplomacy”

Subsequently, on 23 May, whilst on an official visit to Vietnam, President Obama lifted the decades-long embargo on selling lethal weapons to Vietnam, without requiring any concessions in return, leaving Rep. Chris Smith to lament the “epic failure of diplomacy”.

In April 2015, Smith sponsored the Vietnam Humans Rights Act of 2015, which “prohibits U.S. nonhumanitarian assistance to the government of Vietnam in excess of FY2014 amounts unless the President certifies to Congress that the government of Vietnam has made substantial progress respecting political, civil, media, Internet, and religious freedoms, minority rights, access to U.S. refugee programs, and actions to end trafficking in persons and the release of religious and political prisoners.”

The Act also states: “It is the sense of Congress that: it shall be U.S. policy that further easing of the prohibition on the sale of lethal military equipment to Vietnam shall require Vietnam to take additional and sustained steps to advance human rights protections.”

Unsurprisingly, Rep. Chris Smith believes Obama struck a “bad deal”.

“President Obama gave up one of the few remaining leverage points that the United States has in exchange for vague promises of expanded port use by the U.S. Navy,” said Smith, who quite reasonably believes that “Vietnam would have offered the U.S. Navy port access without condition, given China’s advances in the South China Sea.”  

Phil Robertson, deputy director at the New York-based Human Rights Watch agrees. “In one fell swoop, President Obama has jettisoned what remained of U.S. leverage to improve human rights in Vietnam – and has basically gotten nothing for it.”

While Stratfor Global Intelligence confirms that, “Hanoi is reportedly interested in U.S. helicopters, communications equipment, and possibly even used F-16 fighter jets,” the reality is, Vietnam has long purchased the bulk of its weapons from Russia, and this is unlikely to change anytime soon. Maybe this, and not Chinese expansion in the South China Sea, was foremost in Obama’s mind.  

A Green Light to Escalate Repression

In 2006, the State Department removed Vietnam from its list of Countries of Particular Concern, citing the release of religious prisoners and the easing of religious restrictions. Two months later, the US granted Vietnam permanent normal trade status, which paved the way for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 2007.

However, as soon as Vietnam had secured its goals, repression and persecution escalated. On 6 March 2007, Nguyen Van Dai was arrested as the regime cracked down on pro-democracy and human rights advocates.  Writing in March 2007, I described the crackdown as a “watershed moment”, wherein, “Through a wave of harassments, arrests and criminal charges against human rights and democracy advocates engaged in peaceful and perfectly legal activities, Vietnam is openly showing its hand and waiting to see if anyone will challenge, or if everyone will fold.”

In giving the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam exactly what it wanted without requiring anything in return, President Obama essentially "folded", giving the regime a green light to escalate repression and persecution.

This will certainly crush the hopes of Vietnam’s more than 100 political and religious prisoners, along with their loved ones and supporters. More critically, it will embolden a brutal totalitarian regime intent on silencing a multitude of Vietnamese dissident bloggers, pro-democracy activists, human rights lawyers and religious liberty advocates . . . including, of course, Mrs Vu Minh Khanh, who soon will return to Vietnam.

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For more details on religious persecution in Vietnam, see
“Vietnam: Serious suffering as persecution escalates.” 
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB 359), 1 June 2016
By Religious Liberty Analyst, Elizabeth Kendal.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat.

Elizabeth Kendal’s new book, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, is presently being published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA) and will be available shortly. 

SUDAN: Massacre in Heiban as Nuba Genocide enters its Sixth Year.

By Religious Liberty Analyst, Elizabeth Kendal, 23 May 2016

Photos emerging from Heiban in South Kordofan’s conflict-wracked Nuba Mountains provide fresh evidence that the Government of Sudan continues to perpetrate crimes against humanity.

Nuba Reports

At 6 p.m. on 1 May, two Sudanese Air Force MiG fighter jets attacked residential areas within Heiban town in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, killing six children, three from one family: Nidal Abdolrahman Ibrahim (12), Ibrahim Abdolrahman Ibrahim (10), Jihan Abdolrahman Ibrahim (5), Hafez Mahmud (10) Kuku Dawli (4), and Yusif Yagoub (4). Having seen the photos, I can tell you, that the heads and limbs of these small children were literally shredded.

What is most important to understand is that the “Heiban Massacre” is not an isolated incident. To the contrary, it is but one episode in the Government of Sudan’s genocidal jihad against the non-Arab and mostly non-Muslim peoples of Sudan’s “New South” – Abyei, South Kordofan and Blue Nile – a campaign that has just entered its sixth year. For the Christians of the Nuba Mountains, it is the second genocide in a generation.

BACKGROUND

click on map to enlarge

On 9 January 2005, the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ending more than 20 years of civil war and Islamic jihad. The CPA gave the GoS seven years in which to “make unity attractive”. After that time, South Sudan would be entitled to hold a referendum on self-determination; and the three contested non-Arab and SPLM-aligned regions would determine their own futures: Abyei (which straddles the North-South border) was supposed to get a referendum; while South Kordofan and Blue Nile states (both in the north) would be entitled to popular consultations.

As the seven year interim period drew to a close, the GoS realised that, having failed spectacularly to “make unity attractive”, it was on the verge of losing 25 percent of its land mass, 80 percent of its forests and 75 percent of its oil.

On 27 April 1993, at the height of the preceding Nuba Genocide, clerics at the El-Obeid Mosque, North Kordofan, issued the now infamous fatwa:

“An insurgent who was previously a Moslem is now an apostate [simply by virtue of his political opposition]; and a non-Moslem is a non-believer standing as a bulwark against the spread of Islam, and Islam has granted the freedom of killing both of them.”

To the Arab-supremacist Islamists in Khartoum, the secession of South Sudan would make this fatwa and this genocide more urgent than ever.

click on map to enlarge

As the 9 July 2011 referendum on southern secession loomed, the GoS moved pre-emptively to seize control of the three contested regions: oil-rich Abyei and South Kordofan, and Blue Nile which has gold, water and which generates hydro-electric power.

GoS bombing of Abyei commenced on 19 May 2011, followed by a military invasion that sent Abyei's remnant 20,000 mostly-Christian, Dinka Ngok residents fleeing south. [It has subsequently been estimated that up to 150,000 mostly-Christian, Dinka Ngok residents were ethnically cleansed from Abyei.]

The assault on South Kordofan started on 5 June 2011 with door-to-door “sweeping” operations in the capital, Kadugli, designed to “decapitate” the Christian community. These were followed by aerial bombardments, scorched earth warfare and the closure of the region to all humanitarian aid: an act designed to facilitate mass starvation.

On 9 July 2011, South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to secede from Sudan; and on 28 August 2011, GoS forces flooded into Blue Nile.

For more background see:
“SUDAN: Nuba Genocide Resumes”,
by Religious Liberty Analyst Elizabeth Kendal, 24 June 2011.
“SUDAN: war spreads across ‘new south’ into Blue Nile”
By Religious Liberty Analyst Elizabeth Kendal, 13 Sept 2011.

GENOCIDE NO SECRET

On 31 August 2014, Sudan’s most senior military and security officials met in the National Defense College, Khartoum, for a Military and Security Committee Meeting to discuss the “Management of Military Activities”. The minutes of that meeting were leaked to long-time Sudan expert Eric Reeves, who had them translated and verified as authentic. The minutes reveal an official policy of genocide by means of mass starvation – and not only across the New South, but in the refugee camps in South Sudan's oil-rich Unity and Upper Nile states, which Khartoum wants closed.

Complete text: minutes for the August 31, 2014 meeting of senior NCP security/military officials. Eric Reeves, 29 Sept 2014.

See also: “Sudan Exposed: 'Starve them', 'empty the camps'”
By  Religious Liberty Analyst Elizabeth Kendal, 12 Nov 2014
AND "On the move again; 70,000 refugees compelled to leave [Yida] Camp." Nuba Reports, 18 Dec 2015.

In November 2015, Sudan’s Defence Minister Awad Ibnauf assured the federal parliament that all areas controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) “will be liberated through a massive military operation”.

In early February 2016 observers reported seeing massive columns of troops (army and paramilitary – including foreign jihadists) moving into South Kordofan along with heavy weapons in preparation for this year’s dry season offensive.

See: "SUDAN: Nuba brace for more jihad"
By Religious Liberty Analyst, Elizabeth Kendal, 17 Feb 2016.

Having encircled the Nuba Mountains, the GoS is now bombing and strafing civilian areas, as evidenced by the 1 May 2016 attack on Heiban.

Though massively outnumbered and out-gunned, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) is holding its ground.

Latest reports:"Nuba Conflict Intensifies as Rains Arrive"
Nuba Reports, 20 May 2016
"The Shrapnel Finds Us Wherever We Hide"
By Tom Rhodes and Musa John, Foreign Policy, 19 May 2016
"'Thousands' fled bombing in Sudan's Blue Nile this month"
Dabanga, 23 May 2016

Meanwhile in Khartoum, hundreds of Sudanese political and civic actors, as well as individuals have signed a petition condemning and expressing their horror at the 1 May 2016 “Heiban Massacre”. Signatories include 29 heads of all the major opposition parties in Sudan, 30 representatives of civil society, along with hundreds of individuals.

The signatories “call for the reawakening of the Sudanese national consciousness and for individuals and organisations to take campaign actions in response to this crime.” They also “call upon the regional and international actors . . . to exert pressure on the Sudanese Government to end this violence and make Heiban the last aerial bombardment against civilians.”

For full list of signatories, see: “The Massacre of the Children of Heiban: Make it the Last Crime of the Sudanese Government’s Aerial Bombardments.” 
Eric Reeves, 13 May 2016.

These opposition voices need and deserve all the support they can get. So too do the imperilled forgotten peoples of Sudan’s New South. The Nuba are Christians, the legacy of Australian pioneer missionaries. As they face their second genocide in a generation, one is left to wonder, “Why?”

Why, as the Nuba face the existential threat posed by greed-fuelled, state sanctioned, genocidal racism and Islamic jihad, they are abandoned to their fate?

Why is their plight of such little interest to the West?

Are they too black?

Is their plight too politically incorrect?

Are they too Christian at a time when Western “progressives” are dreaming of a post-Christian age?

One thing is certain, this genocide will continue until either the Government of Sudan achieves its aim of repopulating the resource-rich “New South” with Arab Muslims loyal to Khartoum, OR,  nations of conscience act together, with conviction and commitment, to force Khartoum to stop the killings, open the regions, and start the hard work of finding sustainable solutions.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks toChristians Today (Deror Books, Dec 2012), which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat.

Her second book, ‘After Saturday Comes Sunday’: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East, is being published by Wipf and Stock (Eugene, OR, USA), due for release in the coming months.