Osama bin Laden calls for Jihad in Sudan

"I call on mujahideen and their supporters, especially in Sudan..."


Osama bin Laden's latest gambit: war in the southern Sudan. Media sources all over the world, including this front page report from the left-leaning Guardian Online, have reported on the latest recording aired by al-Jazeera.

In extracts from a tape broadcast by al-Jazeera television, a voice sounding like Bin Laden's said the western public shared responsibility for the actions of their governments, particularly for what he described as "a continuous crusader-Zionist war on Islam".

And then he gets specific:

"I call on mujahideen and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arabian peninsula, to prepare for long war against the crusader plunderers in western Sudan," he said.

"Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but to defend Islam, its land and its people," he added.

Perhaps out of concern for Islamo-facist apathy and indifference (toward what he calls "long war") he went on:

"I urge holy warriors to be acquainted with the land and the tribes in Darfur."

Or maybe, just maybe, he is aware of the usual tendencies toward lapses in geographical comprehension. People are people, after all. Anyway, the Guardian offers this backgrounder on the conflict, though I don't pick up on any of the paper's usual anti-American virulence (he said in astonishment):

The Darfur conflict erupted in 2003 when mostly non-Arab tribes revolted, accusing the Arab-led government of neglect. Khartoum retaliated by arming mainly Arab militias, known as janjaweed, who began a campaign of murder, rape and plunder that drove more than 2 million villagers into squalid camps in Sudan and neighbouring Chad.

And surprisingly, the Guardian is willing to report on the religious demarcation which frames the conflict. Will wonders never cease...

Bin Laden, who was based in Sudan for several years during the 1990s, also denounced the peace accord between Khartoum and the mainly Christian and animist south, which was signed last year. "This agreement is not worth the ink it was written with and does not bind us," he said, adding that southern Sudan was "part of the Islamic lands".

"It's very dangerous," said Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper and author of a book on al-Qaida. "The timing is extremely important. He's sensing that there's a failed state in Sudan and he would like to extend his bases."

Or maybe Osama is banking on that folks in Sudan are still upset about that Bill Clinton cruise missile attack thing, whatever that was...

The combination of a weak government in Khartoum and the prospect of UN forces being sent to Sudan was creating "an atmosphere that he loves", Mr Atwan said.

And that sums it up. As far as what Osama loves - and fertile conditions for his brand of hate - don't forget the usual crushing poverty, as well as the absolute absence of democracy and rule of law. And let not your hearts be troubled, comrade crusaders, Osama is also mad at our Buddhist fellow travelers:

In the summarised sections of the tape, Bin Laden denounced the UN security council for giving a veto to "the crusaders of the world and the Buddhist pagans". He also mocked King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia for promoting a "dialogue among civilisations" when - according to Bin Laden - it was the west that had launched an assault against Islamic civilisation.