Gaddafi's seeds of hatred in Darfur

  1. Posted on Friday 27 February 2009 - 09:26
    sheleta
    Image of sheleta
    Savo Heleta, AfricaNews reporter in Johannesburg, South Africa
    Libyan leader and the new Chairman of the African Union, Colonel Moamer Gaddafi, said in a speech aired on Al-Libya television channel that the International Criminal Court needs to stop proceedings against Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir as "it was Israel and not the Sudanese president who was to blame for the Darfur conflict."
    Gaddafi
    "Key rebel leaders have opened offices in Tel Aviv and meet frequently with the (Israeli) army... If Tel Aviv among others is behind the events in Darfur, why then call al-Bashir or the Sudanese government to account," added Gaddafi.

    He was referring to a case against the president of Sudan at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the alleged genocide and war crimes committed in Darfur since 2003. The ICC judges will rule on March 4 whether or not to issue a warrant for the arrest of al-Bashir.

    Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur, the leader of one faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) which has offices in Israel, rejected Gaddafi's statements saying that his SLM faction has offices in Libya too "but no one said that Libya was provoking the war or that we are agents of Tripoli."

    In reality, Libya and its leader have been involved in the past in sowing the seeds of hatred in Darfur that erupted in 2003.

    In the 1980s, Colonel Gaddafi began work on establishing a large Arab state across northern Africa. One of Gaddafi's first steps was to gain control of neighboring Chad. Between 1987 and 1989, Chadian rebels, backed by Libya, used Darfur as a base from where they attacked Chad.

    With their notions of Arab supremacy, Libyans organized Arab tribes in the region, including Darfur, into an "Islamic Legion" and gave its members military training and weapons to fight what they saw as "inferior Africans."

    The legacy of the "Islamic Legion" would remain in Darfur for a long time. Many current Janjaweed militia leaders, who are believed to be behind the worst atrocities in Darfur that have claimed an estimated 200,000 lives of mainly African Darfurians since 2003, have been trained and supported by Gaddafi and Libyans in the 1980s.

    Instead of fantasizing and coming up with conspiracy theories about Israel's involvement in the Darfur conflict, Colonel Gaddafi just needs to look into a mirror and find one of those who are to blame for the suffering of millions of Darfurians.

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