Shattered Sudan - Essay Example

Shattered Sudan: By Paul Salopek Paul Salopek relates the evils of Sudanese civil war from a practical experience. He takes a flight an illegal flight through Kenya and lands in the rebel controlled south. This was before independence of South Sudan. When he arrived, he witnessed scenes of horror of hunger and starvation. His narration reveals what the Khartoum government vehemently denies on the media: ambush on civilians and the rebels. Salopek discovers that the bone of contention is the oil fields (Salopek 1).

The Sudanese government troops have displaced the Dinka community from the oil fields and conducted aerial attacks on the civilian population. Salopek alludes to the traditional Arab masters and African servants as a strong factor that also plays in the conflict. He notes that Islamic fundamentalists who dominate the north have plunged the country into a new dark era that has curtailed political freedoms and brought in massive human suffering (Salopek 1). He notes that the suffering has created sour relationships between the Islamist government in the north and the Christian rebels in the oil rich south.

Salopek unveils atrocities like scorched earth policy in which the government forces torches sorghum farms to further cause suffering. Sad enough, it also becomes apparent through Salopek’s narration that some commanders intentionally keep civilians malnourished to achieve their own ends. He observes that they do this in a bid to attract United Nation’s aid (Salopek 1). In summary, one can observe that the key factor that shatters Sudan is the fight to control the oil rich south. It is an appalling scenario that the region that produces oil in Sudan is also the poorest in the region.

For Sudan, oil is both a blessing and a curse. Perhaps the newly independent republic of South Sudan that voted in secession form the unruly north has so much to put in order.Work CitedSalopek Paul. “Shattered Sudan.” National Geographic Society Magazine. February 2003. From http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0302/feature2/fulltext.html. 16 April, 2012.