A Glance from Far and Away to the United States of America: How the U.S. Can Rally the World Around Peace

By Dr. Khidir Haroun

Underneath the Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus (1838–1887) composed a poem known as The New Colossus, celebrating the United States of America as a humane refuge for oppressed people from all over the world, regardless of their ethnic, religious, or regional background. It reads:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

This portion of the poem was, in 1903, inscribed on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York City.

However, the exigencies of our time have led some to propose changes, adding qualifications such as: Give me your tired and your poor — who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.

Realistically, the door cannot remain open forever. Yet, at the same time, the search for alternatives abounds in the present. America remains the richest and strongest nation on Earth. Its impact on the world stage is consequential. The United States can work with other wealthy countries to establish a global body that treats all nations with equality and fairness — one that protects the poor from exploitation, manipulation, and aggression. It once did so when it helped rebuild Europe after World War II, a deed that made it great, at least in the eyes of the European people.

Those who are eager today to keep immigrants within their regions should instead help them prosper and live decently where they are. Migration will never stop as long as poor countries are subjected to unjust treatment by powerful nations and international corporations that exploit their raw materials. The policies and practices of the international system seem designed to preserve the status quo: a rich, developed North and a poor, underdeveloped South. This imbalance is a recipe for migration and global instability.

Major powers could join hands to make the mantra “Justice is indivisible” a reality — if they choose to do so. Africa is among the richest continents in terms of minerals, fresh water, and arable land. Yet the migration of Africa’s youth is costing Europe greatly. Despite the measures Europe has taken to prevent African migrants from reaching its shores, many still risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Likewise, Latin Americans will continue coming to the United States as long as they live in misery in their own countries.

Instead of addressing the root causes of migration from Africa through fair, mutually beneficial approaches, the European Union has paid millions of dollars to a notorious militia in Sudan — the Janjaweed, or Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — accused in 2003 of committing atrocities and genocide against African tribes in Darfur, Sudan, to stop the flow of African migrants to Europe. As a result, the militia grew strong enough to attempt to seize power in Sudan, supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been providing the group with advanced weapons and mercenaries from Africa and Latin America. American and European media, as well as legislative bodies, have confirmed this.

Sudan, once described as the breadbasket of Africa and the Middle East, could have fulfilled that potential with European and American expertise and modern technology. Such an agricultural project could have employed tens of thousands of Africans, sparing them from risking their lives to reach European shores. Instead, Sudan has suffered aggression for the past three years — marked by random killings, rapes, and the displacement of around 22 million people from their homes. In Al-Fashir, Darfur, 400,000 residents are living under RSF siege, feeding their children on animal fodder, according to Mr. Assad Bolus, the American President’s advisor for Africa and the Middle East. Numerous reports have identified the UAE as the source of the sophisticated weapons supplied to the RSF militia.

The United States, eager to be recognized as a great peacemaker, has missed the opportunity to win the hearts and minds of the suffering Sudanese by failing to pressure its close ally, the UAE, to stop its massacres against Sudanese civilians. The greatness of a nation should be measured by morality and peacebuilding. The U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Robio, described the UAE’s actions in Sudan as genocide but justified America’s inaction by citing U.S. interests. Where, then, are the moral and even religious obligations to uphold justice and world peace — from a nation considered the leader of the free world?

Since the Arab Spring uprisings, the UAE has sought to suffocate any attempt at freedom and democracy in the Middle East, disguising its real fear of losing power as concern over the return of Islamists to power in Sudan. The Islamist regime in Sudan was ousted by a popular uprising in April 2019, and Sudanese citizens have since aspired to establish a different kind of governance — a true democracy, which they have achieved before through the ballot box without foreign interference. It makes no sense to assume that the same people who toppled that regime would vote it back into power. The U.S. government dealt with that ousted regime for two decades on serious matters and even lifted sanctions on it twice. Why, then, do some officials now accept the UAE’s pretext when they know that its real fear — and that of other autocrats in the region — is democracy, not Islam?

Peace-loving people and pro-democracy advocates in the West should recognize this reality and honestly support those striving for democracy, rather than siding with corrupt autocrats and becoming complicit in their heinous crimes. It is almost certain that U.S. and European intelligence agencies know the true nature of the war in Sudan — that there is no imminent threat of political Islam there — and that the UAE is using the RSF as a pawn to disrupt Sudan’s path toward democracy and to dominate its seaports and food production for its own interests.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=8270