Why the silence on Sudan?
Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced earlier this month that he plans to hold an international forum in September on the child victims of war. This is a good move: in many countries, children lose their lives as innocent victims of bombing, by stepping on land mines, and even by being forced into fighting.
But the minister needs to be reminded (again) to include Sudan on his list of countries where children suffer. Despite letters, lobbies and a huge investigation conducted by his department, Axworthy appears immune to the suffering of children in southern Sudan.
In February, government envoy John Harker released a major report detailing human rights abuses caused by civil war between the Islamic-based government in Khartoum and the rebel forces in the south. Of special interest to Canada is the presence of a Canadian oil company, Talisman Energy Inc. The Calgary company owns a 25 percent share in an oil producing project that directs a portion of its revenues to the Khartoum government, which in turn uses the money to further the genocide in the south.
Harker, who confirmed there is an inextricable link between the oil pipeline project and Khartoum’s genocidal campaign, reported that government forces use Talisman’s airstrip, bomb civilian targets and condone or ignore slavery.
Axworthy accepted the report, assured church and humanitarian groups that he would act on it, and since then has done nothing. He has taken no measures against Talisman for its role in the genocide, as he indicated he would last fall.
At the international level, as chair of the United Nations Security Council in early April, he had a prime opportunity to raise the Sudan issue with his colleagues. But he didn’t. Council president Robert Fowler said a plan to discuss Sudan was dropped from the meeting’s agenda because “the timing was not right.”
Meanwhile, government forces have bombed a hospital operated by Voice of the Martyrs as well as the Samaritan’s Purse hospital (not once, but four times). They also bombed a school, killing 14 young students and a teacher.
The 17-year-old war has also affected the distribution of aid. Many people have been forced out of their homes and villages, denied food aid during times of drought, causing many to starve to death and others to flee.
And then there’s slavery. Document after document has proven that thousands of children and young people are abducted and sold into slavery.
Clearly, Sudan is one of the worst human rights disasters in the world today, if not the worst, and our foreign affairs minister has the power to do something about it .
Will there be any young representatives from Sudan at the September forum? Or will they all be dead or enslaved by then?
The top headline on the front page of the National Post (April 5) told the story in a nutshell: “Fear has taken over from greed,” it declared. It seemed an unusual entrée to a business report, but it pinpointed the non-material impulses that often control the speculative markets.
The article described the extraordinary activity in the stock markets the day before when investors “stampeded” to sell high-tech stocks, triggering the “worst one day collapse in more than 12 years.” However, bargain hunters quickly stepped into the breach, prompting “one of the greatest recoveries in history.” The bubble didn’t burst this time, but such volatility in the stock market is a warning that economic activity divorced from sustainable and real wealth creation is dangerous financially.
More importantly, it’s a clear reminder that the pursuit of wealth is a spiritual matter, always involving forces well beyond the material. The Bible teaches (Matthew 6:19-21) that wealth garnered for its own sake will deteriorate. It warns against storing up treasures on earth, because “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Love and generosity are Christian values; fear and greed are their opposites.