Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Lundin Oil (LOILY, LOILB Sweden) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greywolf who wrote (2269)	4/10/2001 11:35:26 PM
From: Tomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2742

US evangelists focus on Sudan to declare a holy war of words: Washington is now beginning to take notice of this once forgotten conflict Financial Times, April 11 By Mark Turner The bombed church provides the perfect backdrop for Franklin Graham, the evangelist who intoned US president George W. Bush's inauguration prayers, to film an appeal to American Christians. "James and Betty, right now I'm in Lui," he says to the camera, addressing two TV evangelists from Texas. "I want to take the next couple of minutes to share with you what God is doing in southern Sudan ..." Mr Graham, alongside a host of other Christian organisations, has been active in Sudan for years. Now a confluence of senators, academics and religious leaders has used the new US presidency's support for "faith-based" causes to raise the profile of Sudan's 17-year conflict of north against south. The war pits the Islamist Khartoum government against a number of rebel groups calling for autonomy in the south, where Christianity and animism are dominant. Since 1989, the US has sent more than Dollars 1.2bn of humanitarian aid to the country. Many see the long-running conflict as a battle for control of resources, but the Christian right in the US has seized on its religious overtones as a reason to intervene. Mr Graham - son of renowned evangelist Billy and a friend of the Bush family - is a charismatic and business-minded self-publicist. He leads the Pentagon in prayers and has the ear of Capitol Hill. There have been numerous meetings on Sudan among Washington's power brokers. Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, recently told a congressional panel: "There is perhaps no greater tragedy on the face of the earth today." Pressure is mounting for the US to declare Sudan a foreign policy priority. Mr Graham is calling for a no-fly zone. His charity, Samaritan's Purse, runs a mission hospital not far from the southern front line. The push is well timed. Sudan has seen a spectacular rise in oil production over the past year to more than 200,000 barrels a day, while the conflict has taken on new impetus, as rebel groups in the south have declared war on the oil companies. The increasing revenues are enabling the government to raise spending on weapons and analysts are warning of dire consequences if more is not done to share the resources. But to Mr Graham, while the oil is crucial, it is not the primary reason for the war. He, like many others, is casting it as a conflict between struggling Christians and an evil oppressive force, between western decency and a rogue state that still condones slavery. This is the message they are taking to Washington. "For me as an outsider, the freedom of worship seems the main issue," he says. "The north has declared a jihad - it is a fact. Instead of being converted to Islam, these people have decided to fight. It is David against Goliath." Such pronouncements have caused disquiet among secular organisations, concerned that the war is being over-simplified. Some analysts argue that dialogue with the increasingly fractious government in Khartoum offers the only real chance of resolving the conflict. Years of strained US-Sudanese relations have hindered diplomacy, while the war appears unwinnable. Meanwhile, Muslim opponents of the government have been as active in fighting Khartoum as the southerners the US groups seek to champion. In the past year Hassan el-Tourabi, the ideologue of Sudan's "Islamisation" programme, was ousted by his former allies and imprisoned. "The conflict has a lot of different variables - it is not all about religion," said Melanie Treadgold, medical co-ordinator of the Irish-based organisation Goal. "It will not help if religion is focused on too much." Ramadan Yasin, who works with a local organisation in the southern Blue Nile province, believes that aggressive evangelism can be dangerous. "Our area was in harmony, now people are hating Islam. We don't want people to disturb the peace." Mr Graham and other missionaries' flamboyance does little to assuage these concerns. Aboard Samaritan Purse's aircraft, as designer-clad members of Mr Graham's team make calls from satellite phones, it is also clear that they are genuinely driven by an over-riding mission to spread the word of God and to protect those who believe. And while the UN struggles to raise funds for relief work, Mr Graham's message is proving impossible for Washington to ignore. Back outside the bombed church in Lui, north-west of the southern (government-held) capital of Juba, he tells the camera: "We are here to help in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need prayers, we do need financial support, but mostly we need prayers. Thank you, God bless you, I'm Franklin Graham."