Question is, what does "taking something at face value" mean to General Omar el-Bashir?
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudan's president, under international pressure to end killings of civilians in the western Darfur region, said the armed forces will disarm the Arab militias blamed for what the United Nations (news - web sites) has called a humanitarian crisis. President Omar el-Bashir said in a statement Saturday said he was ordering a "complete mobilization" of all Sudanese army and security forces to disarm all Darfur's warring parties, including the janjaweed — nomadic Arab militia that the government has been accused of supporting. Fighting between Arab militias and the black African population has killed thousands of people and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes. International rights groups say the government has backed the Arab militia in an ethnic cleansing campaign against the African villagers. The government has strongly denied the accusations, saying the conflict was a result of tribal conflicts over land and water resources.What the hell does this mean? And by that I mean what does it mean in reality, because Bashir is supporting the militias right now. How can he switch sides now and more importantly, why would he want to? What interest does it serve? He's caving to international pressure? I don't think so. This guy has waged war for twenty years in the south and only caved to international pressure after the US lobbed a few cruise missles into Khartoum which demolished an aspirin factory, and President Bush gave a short speech on the evening of 9/11 declaring that we would go after the state sponsors of terrorism. Those moves told Bashir we meant business and he replied appropriately and got his butt to the bargaining table.
In other words, this move isn't because Kofi told him he had to protect the people under fire in Darfur.
What's scared him into acting, or at least declaring he's going to act? Furthermore, can we take him at his word? (Which I don't think we can.)
I'll be damned if I know what it means other than the obvious at this moment in time.
{Insert much head scratching here}
Posted by Kathy at June 1, 2004 02:27 PM | TrackBack