Upcoming peace talks in
Further complicating matters is the current crisis between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) over implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The SPLM’s ire was raised in this instance over the NCP’s refusal to reshuffle Cabinet ministers. The crisis came to a head earlier in the week when the SPLM suspended its participation in the Government of National Unity. This suspension threatens the peace between North-South signed in 2005 that put an end to a twenty-year civil war that killed over two million. Latest news out of Sudan suggests the crisis may be lessening as Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir has reshuffled some Cabinet ministers, most importantly Foreign Minister Lam Akol, who the SPLM had accused of representing the North’s interests over the South’s.
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I personally am watching to see how China will react to this strain in the North-South relations. They've been slow, at best, to react to anything in Darfur, and in general their "business only" world strategy will be tested here. China wields a great deal of economic power in Sudan, and conversly, Sudaneese oil powers so much of China's current boom, but if North-South ties dissolve into fighting, with potential death tolls and instability on such a grand scale, will make Darfur look like a birthday party. Instability and death do not equal good climate for continued oil extraction and export to China, and a loss of the Sudaneese oil connection would seriously stunt China's growth. It's an interesting cross roads- China can finally realise its political power as the emerging world economic power for some good, or it can continue to ignore the implications of its actions (or non-actions, in this case) on the rest of the world.
-Dr. J. Ito
Prof. Ito is an Associate Professor of Accuracy in Long Distance Passing, in the China Studies Department at Rutgers University
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