Abd-al-Mahmud Nur-al-Dayim

KHRTOUM (Sunatimes)- Sudan's share in the waters of the Red Sea is an area of around 9,000 miles. It is about 750 miles long by 12 nautical miles wide, a vast area that is important for regional and international security and trade. Threats to Sudan's security and unity can make these extensive waters a theatre for piracy that threatens security and regional and international trade.

The Sudanese coast on the Red Sea extends for 750 miles with a width of 12 miles. Sudan's eastern coast at Port Sudan is about 120 kilometres from Saudi Arabia's western coast in Jidda. Ensuring security in Sudan's territorial waters as an important route for international trade is essential for the region's security. Sudan's territorial waters are adjacent to Saudi Arabia, the Gulf region, and the southern Red Sea.

The escalation of American pressures that have continued for more than 20 years on Sudan and weakening the State will ultimately result in the State's collapse and in the collapse of Red Sea security and international trade. The collapse of the State in Sudan means anarchy and one of its prominent features will be the spread of piracy in Sudan's waters, whether coming from Somalia or as a new form of piracy in the Red Sea.

In Somalia's case, the collapse of the State was the direct result of a mistake in US policy and unwise military and political intervention in Somalia's internal affairs. Passports are issued from kiosks, students in schools decide which curricula they study, and Mogadishu Airport is being run by a private sector firm. Somalia became a dangerous base for Al-Qa'idah organization. From Somalia, Al-Qa'idah became a threat to the security of the Red Sea and to stability of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

The collapse of the State in Somalia was due to US insistence on imposing an "American" Somali President. But Washington which toppled Muhammad Farah Aidid failed to appoint its man, General Abshir, as President. So Somalia paid an exorbitant price and the security of the region and international trade similarly paid an exorbitant price. All the naval armadas from various countries of the world are unable to ensure the internal, regional, and international trade security that was provided by the State in Somalia.

The American policy towards Sudan is intent on repeating the same mistake in Somalia by its direct intervention in Sudan's internal affairs and quest to remove nationalist forces from power and impose a Sudanese President with American specifications.

Destabilizing Sudan and the collapse of the State inevitably means destabilization of Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries, Egypt, and the southern Red Sea. African and Arab security will be shaken and this will affect the rest of the world. It will be to no avail to the United States at that time how much its experts argue about the relationship between piracy, organized crime, and Al-Qa'idah in Somalia, Al-Qa'idah in Yemen, and Al-Qa'idah in Sudan or Egypt. Alliances by the pirates, Al-Qa'idah and organized crime will control the area. These are serious manifestations that would be akin to an earthquake in a vital area the stability of which is extremely important for international interests. Such destabilization would have ramifications affecting international security and trade as a whole. Thus an ideal environment will be provided for Al-Qa'idah to launch a new bloody chapter of confrontation against the United States as it has done in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. This will be a bloody chapter written by Al-Qa'idah soldiers coming from East and West Africa and the countries of the Middle East and West and Central Asia.

If the State in Sudan collapses, its western Red Sea coast, eastern coast opposite Saudi Arabia and northern coast opposite Egypt will go up in flames. Sudan's western, central, and eastern mountains and the jungles of the South will become ideal bases for Al-Qa'idah to settle its accounts with the United States and compensate for its losses in other regions. This will be a long-te rm war of attrition the bill of which will be paid by the American economy which is in no need of additional jolts.

This protracted war will be nourished by photos of American soldiers doing indecent acts in front of mosques in Iraq and their dogs roaming inside Afghanistan's mosques (report by Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel). It will be fuelled by rape in the Abu-Ghurayb Prison (Washington Post report with 1,000 digital photographs). It will be fed by 30,000 political prisoners who have languished in Iraq's prisons for six years without trial or questioning. It will be inflamed by the report to Congress about American sex scandals (53 pages) and by video and photographic documentation of rape by American soldiers in Iraq. It will be fed from Al-Falluga where atomic ashes have exceeded the levels of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The United States must not repeat in Sudan its mistake in Somalia. US policy now has a last historic opportunity to be rational and responsible, to stop mounting pressure on Sudan, and to support the State, unity, and peace. The collapse of the State in Sudan means the collapse of the temple, not just on the head of Sudan but on the head of the United States as well. It is an irony that the American pressures on the State in Sudan are still escalating despite Gration's public statement in Washington recently that Sudan cooperated 100 per cent with the United States in the war against terrorism. These escalating American pressures on Sudan in announcing support for secession are a betrayal of unity and peace in Sudan, and of the peace agreement which stipulates one state with two systems of rule. The stepped up American pressures on Sudan contribute to the collapse of the State and transforming Sudan into the biggest base for Al-Qa'idah in the world.

Translated from: Alwan newspaper, Khartoum

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