This post provides extra detail on the EU-Sudan deal mentioned in Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 360, “SUDAN: War and Famine, Impunity and EU Funding”, by Elizabeth Kendal, 8 June 2016.

Desperate EU Emboldens Murderous Sudan.
By Religious Liberty Analyst, Elizabeth Kendal, 8 June 2016.

Humanitarian organisations, Christian ministries and compassionate individuals that have long supported the persecuted church and other victims of Khartoum’s murderous Islamist regime – through the second civil war (1983-2005), the first Nuba Genocide (1990-1993), and now into the third civil war and second Nuba Genocide (from May-June 2011 to the present day) – will be horrified to learn that the murderous Government of Sudan (GoS) will soon be in receipt of funds from the desperate European Union (EU).

As the Sudan Tribune reports: “Sudan has been under EU sanctions since the 1989 coup d’état and didn’t receive any development aid from Europe. . . However, the European body reconsidered its position following the weaves of illegal migrants from Syria, Iraq, and Horn of Africa countries.”

On 23 March 2016, the ambassadors of the EU’s 28 member states attended a secret meeting in which they agreed to work together with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to stop the flow of refugees to Europe.

According to Germany’s Der Spiegel, “the leading diplomats that day discussed a plan that the EU member states had agreed to: They would work together with dictatorships around the Horn of Africa in order to stop the refugee flows to Europe -- under Germany’s leadership.

“. . . The EU's new action plan for the Horn of Africa provides the first concrete outlines: For three years, €40 million ($45 million) is to be paid out to eight African countries from the Emergency Trust Fund, including Sudan.” [Also includes Eritrea.]

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, laughing, 12 May 2016. Photo: Edward Echwalu/Reuters

As the main focus of the project is border protection, “equipment is to be provided to the countries in question.”

The EU will send “cameras, scanners and servers for registering refugees” to Sudan, despite the fact that the GoS is profoundly repressive and a known sponsor of international terrorism; and despite the fact that Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) is a confirmed human rights abuser known to torture prisoners.

The EU will also help train Sudanese border police and assist with “the construction of two camps with detention rooms for migrants”, despite knowing that GoS officials and military personnel are known to be deeply involved in the human trafficking business, including the selling of Eritrean refugees – many of whom are Christians fleeing religious persecution – to those who transport them to the Sinai where they are tortured for ransom.

According to Der Spiegel, “The German development agency GIZ [a government enterprise] is expected to coordinate the project.”

Mark Kersten reports for The Washington Post: “Sudanese officials have apparently told their German counterparts that migrants who are put into the camps will stay there indefinitely, insisting that ‘[t]he goal is that the refugees won’t leave the new camps’.”

In other words, desperate Germany will help criminal Khartoum build what are essentially two concentration camps for refugees and migrants, despite the fact that Khartoum’s government-administered “peace camps” (as the camps for displaced are called) have traditionally made receipt of food conditional upon conversion to Islam.

Further to this, on 5 April, the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, visited Khartoum to formally announce a €100 million ($112 million) aid package to Sudan. The official EU press release reads:

“During a visit to Sudan today [5 April], EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica will discuss increased EU cooperation with Sudan on issues of common interest. He will also announce a €100 million Special Measure for the country, to be implemented under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. . .

“The new funding will focus on reducing poverty, promoting peace and good governance, supporting the creation of jobs and improving the delivery of basic services (such as education and health) in areas affected by insecurity and experiencing large migratory flows. It will target the peripheral and conflict-affected areas such as Darfur, East Sudan and the Transitional Areas of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.”

So Khartoum will receive a $112 million aid package to “address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement” in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, despite the fact that Khartoum IS the root cause of irregular migration and forced displacement from Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The EU will expect Khartoum to curb migration from these conflict areas by means of reducing poverty, promoting peace, creating jobs and delivering services, despite the fact that Khartoum is actively engaged in and committed to ethnic cleansing.

Children shelter in a bunker in Kauda, Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan. Photo: Peter Moszynski source: "Amnesty International says Sudanese army committed 'war crimes' in South Kordofan" Sudan Tribune 4 Aug 2015

Commissioner Mimica’s statement reads like a fantasy: “Our new support of €100 million will essentially focus on improving the living conditions for those who call Sudan home, helping returnees to the country to reintegrate back into society. . .”

It is as Magnus Taylor, Horn of Africa analyst with the International Crisis Group, explained to IRIN: “Sudan is not only important as a major transit route north to Europe, it is also a producer of migrants. But if your job is to stop people arriving in Europe and to come up with a deal to reduce those numbers, then your interest in the internal politics of Sudan may be secondary.”

This desperate EU deal will embolden the murderous Islamist regime in Khartoum, which will see the deal as a green light to escalate war, jihad, aerial bombardments and the engineering of famine, along with human trafficking, forced conversions and all manner of racial and religious hatred-inspired abuse and persecution.

Some key reports:

Questionable Deal: EU to Work with African Despot to Keep Refugees Out
By Jürgen Dahlkamp and Maximilian Popp, Der Spiegel, 13 May 2016.

In Attempt to Manage Refugee Crisis, E.U. Seeks to Work With Repressive African Gov’ts
By James Carstensen, CNSnews, 17 May 2016

Why the EU migration deal with Sudan is so dodgy
By Nanjala Nyabola and Obi Anyadike, IRIN, 26 May 2016

Sudan’s president was indicted. Why isn’t he paying any price?
By Mark Kersten, The Washington Post, 26 May 2016

EU considering working with Sudan and Eritrea to stem migration
By Jennifer Rankin in Brussels, and Patrick Kingsley in Istanbul, The Guardian, 7 June 2016

** The international embrace of Khartoum’s genocidal regime **
By Eric Reeves, Sudan Tribune, 26 May 2016

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