sudan: Sudan's harvests of suffering

The US makes no secret of its desire to expand its oil imports from Africa, aware of its present dependence on the unstable Gulf producers. "It is undeniable," said US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner last year, "that this (oil) has become of national strategic interest to us." Will US tactics in Sudan duplicate its Iraqi strategy of selective support for undemocratic governments that bolster Washington's regional needs, followed by equally selective sanctions and finally threat of all-out war to secure essential oil reserves?