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On Monday, ABC's Jim Sciutto (subscription required) reported from Darfur on the failure of African Union observers to halt the fighting there. Next he traveled to Khartoum to inquire why the United Nations has not deployed a peacekeeping force. His answer: "Beijing has blocked efforts to send UN peacekeepers there without Sudanese consent." And why would China be Sudan's champion? Oil.
Sciutto showed us the consequences of the Sudan-PRC oil trade, accounting for two-thirds of the African nation's production: dirt roads have been paved; outdoor markets are rebuilt as shopping malls; a bridge will replace ferries across the River Nile; upwardly mobile students take Mandarin lessons. "Many in Sudan's booming capital forget the suffering of Darfur," Sciutto stated, while Beijing is accused of being "complicit in Sudan's genocide."
What can overcome the lure of oil and possibly change China's mind? "The threat of a possible boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games."
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