M
mlchance
Guest
This week, after several months of negotiations, the civil war that has been raging in Sudan since 1983 finally came to an “official” end. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other international dignitaries were on hand to witness the January 9th signing of a peace agreement by Sudans Vice President, representing the northern government in Khartoum, and by the leader of the of the southern rebel group, the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). A referendum on independence will be held in the south in 2011, and in the meantime, oil revenues will be split 50-50 between north and south. And, crucially, while Islamic law will still be used in the mostly Muslim north, the largely Christian southern states will be officially secular and not subject to this law.
While this is all very good news, worries persist. The Sudanese government has signed agreements before, and has broken them. It is still engaged in ethnic cleansing in Darfur, in western Sudan. Nonetheless, one must hope, and pray, that this marks the end of the attempt by the radical Islamic government to destroy the African Christians and others in the south. But while one must pray, one must also be vigilant. The United States must insure international leaders hold the Sudanese government to its promises. And the murder in Darfur must cease. Anything else makes a mockery of the millions who have been murdered or enslaved.
– Mark L. Chance.
While this is all very good news, worries persist. The Sudanese government has signed agreements before, and has broken them. It is still engaged in ethnic cleansing in Darfur, in western Sudan. Nonetheless, one must hope, and pray, that this marks the end of the attempt by the radical Islamic government to destroy the African Christians and others in the south. But while one must pray, one must also be vigilant. The United States must insure international leaders hold the Sudanese government to its promises. And the murder in Darfur must cease. Anything else makes a mockery of the millions who have been murdered or enslaved.
– Mark L. Chance.