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Women and children forced to live in caves
analysisBy Simona Foltyn
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Women and children forced to live in caves
analysisBy Simona Foltyn
What's behind Obama's 11th-hour decision to lift sanctions on one of the world's most isolated regimes?
In one of his final acts in office, US President Barack Obama announced last Friday the partial lifting of sanctions against Sudan, paving the way for normalisation of ties with one of the most isolated countries in the world.
Obama's decision has drawn sharp criticism from within the US, the only country in the world that officially labelled mass killings in Darfur as genocide. Human rights organisations and long-time anti-Khartoum activists rushed to condemn the decree, calling it "inexplicable,""premature" and "a deal with the devil". Some argued that Obama had forfeited America's biggest bargaining chip over President Omar al-Bashir, while others vowed to "work with the U.S. Congress to see some of these sanctions restored".
The view from Sudan, however, appears markedly different. In dozens of conversations with the author over the past months, Sudanese from all walks of life and from across the political spectrum overwhelmingly described the sanctions as unjust and counterproductive.
Even the fiercest political opponents of Bashir voiced support for sanctions relief, not because they doubted their government's guilt in perpetrating human rights abuses, but because the sanctions have done little to bring about change on the ground.
Despite there being sanctions in place for the majority of his rule, Bashir remains in power after 27 years, with no signs of political opening. The sanctions didn't limit the elite's ability to amass wealth, nor to get their hands on weapons. Moreover, average citizens bore the brunt of the trade embargo.
