thE intERnational PREsEnCE in sudan 291influence and support for Sudan amidst the shifting geopolitics of the
Cold War and the Middle East. Khartoum’s Chinese-built oil refinery,
meanwhile, symbolizes the benefits of new relations with China and the
growth of a Chinese business presence in Sudan.
Contemporary international interventions are better resourced than
at any point in Sudan’s previous history, but the aims and intentions of
the international humanitarian and development presence are uncertain
and their application inconsistent. The lesson drawn by many from direct
experience of international involvement in Sudan’s wars of the 1990s has
been: address the causes, not just the effects, of violence. In practice this
has meant political engagement, but of an uncertain nature.
In the wake of the vote for separation in the 2011 referendum on self-
determination for the south, the international presence in Sudan has
prepared for the prospect of a separate north and south. This could
presage a new era of international involvement, with popular speculation
about a Sudan that is separated into new spheres of influence: a north left
to China, the Gulf States and Egypt, and the south to Western countries
and East Africa. The immense needs and challenges of state-building in
the south make the continuation of a significant international role likely.
The NCP-state in Khartoum, with investments from the Middle East,
China, Malaysia and India, is more established and resistant to political
influence.Recommended Reading
de Waal, Alex. Famine Crimes: Politics and the Disaster Industry in Africa.
Oxford: James Currey, 1997. Duffield, Mark. Global Governance and the New
Wars: The Merging of Development and Security. London: Zed Books, 2001.
Keen, David. The Benefits of Famine. 2nd ed. Oxford: James Currey, 2008.
Karadawi, Ahmed. Refugee Policy in Sudan: 1967–1984. Oxford: Berghahn
Books, 1999.
Karim, Ataul, et al. ‘Operation Lifeline Sudan: A Review’. Geneva: UN
Department for Humanitarian Affairs, July 1996, http://www.sudanarchive.
net/ cgi-bin/sudan’a=d&d=Dl1d2.The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors
(www.riftvalley.net).