Is this China getting some real-war experiance for her soldiers??? WTF?
Story
China puts '700,000 troops' on Sudan alert
By Christina Lamb, Diplomatic Correspondent
TENS of thousands of Chinese troops and prisoners forced to
work as security guards have been moved into Sudan.
They have been sent in preparation for a
big offensive against southern rebels to try
to bring to an end one of Africa's
longest-running conflicts, according to
Western counter-terrorism officials.The
Chinese have been brought in by aircraft
and ship, ostensibly to guard Sudan's
increasingly productive oilfields in which
the China National Petroleum Corporation
is a leading partner.
Col Johnny Garang's Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA) has managed in
recent weeks to advance within 10 miles of the oilfields in the
Upper Nile region, causing the country's Islamic regime to
activate emergency plans drawn up with allies whose interests
in the oil project are directly under threat.
These plans aim to crush the rebels from the mainly Christian
and animist south and bring to an end the 17-year civil war
that has cost an estimated two million lives. Since oil
production began last year arms have been arriving from Libya,
Qatar and China. The ruling National Islamic Front (NIF) is
spending £300 million a year of its oil revenues on weapons,
according to western intelligence sources.
The NIF denies this charge but last month Gen Mohamed
Osman Yassin, the Sudanese army spokesman, told student
conscripts that "thanks to our growing oil industry" Sudan is
now "manufacturing ammunition, mortars, tanks and
armoured personnel carriers". The SPLA captured a group of
Chinese in an attack last week.
An internal document from the Sudanese military said that as
many as 700,000 Chinese security personnel were available for
action. Three flights a week have been taking the Chinese into
Sudan since work on the oilfields started three years ago.
Diplomats in Khartoum, however, cast doubt on the numbers.
Baroness Caroline Cox, the leading human rights campaigner
who has just returned from Sudan where she helped to free 353
slaves captured by NIF soldiers, yesterday accused western
governments of turning a blind eye to what is going on because
of their own economic interests in the oil.
She warned: "If with foreign help the NIF regime crushes all
opposition we will have entrenched in the heart of Africa a
militant Islamist regime aimed at spreading terrorism
throughout the continent. It's unbelievably serious for the
future of democracy in Africa and could happen in the next few
weeks."
She was particularly critical of the British Government. Last
month it welcomed the Sudanese foreign minister on a visit
even although Sudan is still technically under United Nations
sanctions that ban such visits, and officially is still regarded as a
pariah state. She said: "The British Government has developed
a complete cosy relationship to a regime which is raping,
bombing and taking its people into slavery. It doesn't fit at all
with our so-called ethical foreign policy, and there is no
question the shift has come because of the oil."
Two British companies have won contracts to build pumping
stations on the 1,000-mile pipeline from the Heglig oilfield, in
the war-torn south, to the Red Sea. British oil companies have
also discussed investing in the Sudanese oil industry, described
in a Department of Trade and Industry pamphlet this year as "a
tremendous opportunity".
The Canadian multi-national Talisman Energy, the main
backer of the pipeline with the Chinese and Malaysians
national oil companies, has faced public outcry over its
involvement. Reports that thousands of civilians have been
killed and driven from their homes in order to secure the
oilfields have led North American consumers to boycott petrol
stations, and pension funds to sell shares.
There has been so much criticism that America imposed
economic sanctions on Sudan's oil enterprise. The mission was
told that Talisman's contractual obligation more or less
provides that the oilfield facilities can be used for military
purposes. A UN rapporteur told the mission: "If oil companies
don't know what's going on they're not looking over the fences
of their compounds."
As fighting has escalated in recent months, the NIF has
stepped up attacks on civilian targets. Yesterday Washington
condemned the raids on civilian and relief targets including
schools, hospitals and feeding stations. According to the SPLA,
five such attacks took place last week, making it impossible for
agencies to deliver aid.
A Western aid worker in southern Sudan said: "Everyone
knows what is going on. We've all seen the Chinese being
brought in and can only pray about what's going to happen
next."
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited August 27, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited August 27, 2000).]
Story
China puts '700,000 troops' on Sudan alert
By Christina Lamb, Diplomatic Correspondent
TENS of thousands of Chinese troops and prisoners forced to
work as security guards have been moved into Sudan.
They have been sent in preparation for a
big offensive against southern rebels to try
to bring to an end one of Africa's
longest-running conflicts, according to
Western counter-terrorism officials.The
Chinese have been brought in by aircraft
and ship, ostensibly to guard Sudan's
increasingly productive oilfields in which
the China National Petroleum Corporation
is a leading partner.
Col Johnny Garang's Sudan People's
Liberation Army (SPLA) has managed in
recent weeks to advance within 10 miles of the oilfields in the
Upper Nile region, causing the country's Islamic regime to
activate emergency plans drawn up with allies whose interests
in the oil project are directly under threat.
These plans aim to crush the rebels from the mainly Christian
and animist south and bring to an end the 17-year civil war
that has cost an estimated two million lives. Since oil
production began last year arms have been arriving from Libya,
Qatar and China. The ruling National Islamic Front (NIF) is
spending £300 million a year of its oil revenues on weapons,
according to western intelligence sources.
The NIF denies this charge but last month Gen Mohamed
Osman Yassin, the Sudanese army spokesman, told student
conscripts that "thanks to our growing oil industry" Sudan is
now "manufacturing ammunition, mortars, tanks and
armoured personnel carriers". The SPLA captured a group of
Chinese in an attack last week.
An internal document from the Sudanese military said that as
many as 700,000 Chinese security personnel were available for
action. Three flights a week have been taking the Chinese into
Sudan since work on the oilfields started three years ago.
Diplomats in Khartoum, however, cast doubt on the numbers.
Baroness Caroline Cox, the leading human rights campaigner
who has just returned from Sudan where she helped to free 353
slaves captured by NIF soldiers, yesterday accused western
governments of turning a blind eye to what is going on because
of their own economic interests in the oil.
She warned: "If with foreign help the NIF regime crushes all
opposition we will have entrenched in the heart of Africa a
militant Islamist regime aimed at spreading terrorism
throughout the continent. It's unbelievably serious for the
future of democracy in Africa and could happen in the next few
weeks."
She was particularly critical of the British Government. Last
month it welcomed the Sudanese foreign minister on a visit
even although Sudan is still technically under United Nations
sanctions that ban such visits, and officially is still regarded as a
pariah state. She said: "The British Government has developed
a complete cosy relationship to a regime which is raping,
bombing and taking its people into slavery. It doesn't fit at all
with our so-called ethical foreign policy, and there is no
question the shift has come because of the oil."
Two British companies have won contracts to build pumping
stations on the 1,000-mile pipeline from the Heglig oilfield, in
the war-torn south, to the Red Sea. British oil companies have
also discussed investing in the Sudanese oil industry, described
in a Department of Trade and Industry pamphlet this year as "a
tremendous opportunity".
The Canadian multi-national Talisman Energy, the main
backer of the pipeline with the Chinese and Malaysians
national oil companies, has faced public outcry over its
involvement. Reports that thousands of civilians have been
killed and driven from their homes in order to secure the
oilfields have led North American consumers to boycott petrol
stations, and pension funds to sell shares.
There has been so much criticism that America imposed
economic sanctions on Sudan's oil enterprise. The mission was
told that Talisman's contractual obligation more or less
provides that the oilfield facilities can be used for military
purposes. A UN rapporteur told the mission: "If oil companies
don't know what's going on they're not looking over the fences
of their compounds."
As fighting has escalated in recent months, the NIF has
stepped up attacks on civilian targets. Yesterday Washington
condemned the raids on civilian and relief targets including
schools, hospitals and feeding stations. According to the SPLA,
five such attacks took place last week, making it impossible for
agencies to deliver aid.
A Western aid worker in southern Sudan said: "Everyone
knows what is going on. We've all seen the Chinese being
brought in and can only pray about what's going to happen
next."
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited August 27, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited August 27, 2000).]
