The conflict in Sudan, which pits Islamists (the Justice and Equality Movement <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_and_Equality_Movement>) against Islamists (the government), is the last conflict in which Jews would want to get involved, the least of all side by side with evangelical Christians, imho. But the conflict has been transformed into a fantasy of bad "Arabs" vs. good "Africans." . . .
<blockquote>Although the conflict has also been framed as a battle between Arabs and black Africans, everyone in Darfur appears dark-skinned, at least by the usual American standards. The true division in Darfur is between ethnic groups, split between herders and farmers. Each tribe gives itself the label of "African" or "Arab" based on what language its members speak and whether they work the soil or herd livestock. Also, if they attain a certain level of wealth, they call themselves Arab.
Sudan melds African and Arab identities. As Arabs began to dominate the government in the past century and gave jobs to members of Arab tribes, being Arab became a political advantage; some tribes adopted that label regardless of their ethnic affiliation. More recently, rebels have described themselves as Africans fighting an Arab government. Ethnic slurs used by both sides in recent atrocities have riven communities that once lived together and intermarried.
"Black Americans who come to Darfur always say, 'So where are the Arabs? Why do all these people look black?' " said Mahjoub Mohamed Saleh, editor of Sudan's independent Al-Ayam newspaper. "The bottom line is that tribes have intermarried forever in Darfur. Men even have one so-called Arab wife and one so-called African. Tribes started labeling themselves this way several decades ago for political reasons. Who knows what the real bloodlines are in Darfur?" (Emily Wax, "5 Truths about Darfur," Washington Post, 23 April 2006, p. B03, <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042101752.html>)</blockquote>
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>