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Sudan's Dictator Wants Satellites to Stop Spying on His Crimes | Danger Room | Wired.com
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has issues with satellites. Its not that he would mind some of his own, if Sudan suddenly developed a working space program. Its rather those pesky foreign satellites snooping on Bashirs war crimes and state-orchestrated genocide that he wants to get rid of.
On Wednesday, Bashir called on the African Union (AU) to find ways to protect the continent from spy satellites . The dictator urged the AU to legislate protection of [Africa's] space , as the state-owned Sudan Vision website reported, in tandem with developing a new unified space agency. Im calling for the biggest project, an African space agency, Bashir said during remarks at a telecommunications conference in Khartoum. Africa must have its space agency , he added.
The dictator who is wanted by the International Criminal Court regarding his role in the Darfur genocide has, er, particular reasons for wanting the spy satellites to stay out. Last year, satellites from private space monopoly DigitalGlobe uncovered what appeared to be evidence of mass killings carried out during Sudans ongoing civil war . But whatever Bashirs motivations, a continent-wide space agency actually isnt a bad idea.
But lets take Bashirs motivations first. Images of his crimes are still being collected by DigitalGlobe satellites with funding from the Satellite Sentinel Project, propped up by actor George Clooney and activist John Prendergast. Those taken over the past year include what appears to be mass graves and bombed villages , as well as Sudanese troops and artillery on the move. These images were later compiled by the ICC as evidence against Bashirs defense minister. Like Bashir, that minister, Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein, is also wanted for arrest by the ICC for his role in the genocide in Darfur. In the most recent set of images, Sudanese aircraft are seen based within striking distance of refugee camps .
Bashirs call to legislate the satellites out of the sky is, well, absurd, for one important reason. Satellites cant violate Khartoums airspace if theyre orbiting above the planet. Were Clooney to fly a spy plane over Sudan, he might get shot down, but DigitalGlobes satellites are free to go where they please. Now just try stopping the U.S., which operates a secretive arsenal of satellites, and which plans to network its orbital spies into an all-seeing panopticon. You cant, unless you want to shoot the satellites down with missiles. Sudan definitely cannot do that.
Nor can Sudan even get into space on its own not even close. The extent of Khartoums space program is minimal at most. According to the Space Generation Advisory Council Sudan, the country is limited to studying geographic surveying , researching a small satellite for multipurpose use and working with foreign agencies including the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Commission.
And yet an all-Africa space program is an intriguing idea, though problematic if Bashir is packaging it to the African Union while dodging responsibility for his crimes. Theres no indigenous space launch capability anywhere on the continent. South Africas space program is the most advanced, but it cant lift equipment into orbit. It sent three rockets into sub-orbit during the 1980s, but has never sent up a satellite on a domestic rocket. The old rockets, it should be noted, were also intended to support a nuclear weapons program, which was shuttered in the immediate years before the collapse of the apartheid regime. Beyond that, the extent of Africa in space is limited to a few satellites from Nigeria, Angola (planned), Egypt and Algeria.
Planning a unified African space agency is also still in the very conceptual stages. The first glimpse came two years ago, as the AU proposed an agency called AfriSpace (.pdf) to link up Africas information technology grid in a continent with a growing demand for internet-connected computers and cell phones. More space research could also have second and third-order effects by improving research within Africa, and reducing the continents dependence on other countries for high technology. But if Africa moves too fast, the result could be unhealthy regional competition in the space domain (.pdf) between African countries, according to a report from the Space Security Index.
Though, theres always going the private route of companies like SpaceX, founded by South African-born engineer Elon Musk. But then Bashir probably isnt too keen on the idea of satellites like those from DigitalGlobe that he cant control.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has issues with satellites. Its not that he would mind some of his own, if Sudan suddenly developed a working space program. Its rather those pesky foreign satellites snooping on Bashirs war crimes and state-orchestrated genocide that he wants to get rid of.
On Wednesday, Bashir called on the African Union (AU) to find ways to protect the continent from spy satellites . The dictator urged the AU to legislate protection of [Africa's] space , as the state-owned Sudan Vision website reported, in tandem with developing a new unified space agency. Im calling for the biggest project, an African space agency, Bashir said during remarks at a telecommunications conference in Khartoum. Africa must have its space agency , he added.
The dictator who is wanted by the International Criminal Court regarding his role in the Darfur genocide has, er, particular reasons for wanting the spy satellites to stay out. Last year, satellites from private space monopoly DigitalGlobe uncovered what appeared to be evidence of mass killings carried out during Sudans ongoing civil war . But whatever Bashirs motivations, a continent-wide space agency actually isnt a bad idea.
But lets take Bashirs motivations first. Images of his crimes are still being collected by DigitalGlobe satellites with funding from the Satellite Sentinel Project, propped up by actor George Clooney and activist John Prendergast. Those taken over the past year include what appears to be mass graves and bombed villages , as well as Sudanese troops and artillery on the move. These images were later compiled by the ICC as evidence against Bashirs defense minister. Like Bashir, that minister, Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein, is also wanted for arrest by the ICC for his role in the genocide in Darfur. In the most recent set of images, Sudanese aircraft are seen based within striking distance of refugee camps .
Bashirs call to legislate the satellites out of the sky is, well, absurd, for one important reason. Satellites cant violate Khartoums airspace if theyre orbiting above the planet. Were Clooney to fly a spy plane over Sudan, he might get shot down, but DigitalGlobes satellites are free to go where they please. Now just try stopping the U.S., which operates a secretive arsenal of satellites, and which plans to network its orbital spies into an all-seeing panopticon. You cant, unless you want to shoot the satellites down with missiles. Sudan definitely cannot do that.
Nor can Sudan even get into space on its own not even close. The extent of Khartoums space program is minimal at most. According to the Space Generation Advisory Council Sudan, the country is limited to studying geographic surveying , researching a small satellite for multipurpose use and working with foreign agencies including the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Commission.
And yet an all-Africa space program is an intriguing idea, though problematic if Bashir is packaging it to the African Union while dodging responsibility for his crimes. Theres no indigenous space launch capability anywhere on the continent. South Africas space program is the most advanced, but it cant lift equipment into orbit. It sent three rockets into sub-orbit during the 1980s, but has never sent up a satellite on a domestic rocket. The old rockets, it should be noted, were also intended to support a nuclear weapons program, which was shuttered in the immediate years before the collapse of the apartheid regime. Beyond that, the extent of Africa in space is limited to a few satellites from Nigeria, Angola (planned), Egypt and Algeria.
Planning a unified African space agency is also still in the very conceptual stages. The first glimpse came two years ago, as the AU proposed an agency called AfriSpace (.pdf) to link up Africas information technology grid in a continent with a growing demand for internet-connected computers and cell phones. More space research could also have second and third-order effects by improving research within Africa, and reducing the continents dependence on other countries for high technology. But if Africa moves too fast, the result could be unhealthy regional competition in the space domain (.pdf) between African countries, according to a report from the Space Security Index.
Though, theres always going the private route of companies like SpaceX, founded by South African-born engineer Elon Musk. But then Bashir probably isnt too keen on the idea of satellites like those from DigitalGlobe that he cant control.
what i meant to say was that normally during did evaluation 60% marks are for commercial compliance (being cheapest) and 40% for technical requirements meeting.. in this case chinese companies always put up the lowest price... even they know that they are in loss... as per procedures technical compliance is usually met... and by this formula chinese companies get the order... after getting order these companies start issuing variation orders claiming that their price didnt includce this this and this requirement and if client wants the job to be done.. they have to pay additional amount... in this way they play with contract clauszes and language, full stop, comma, semi collon and at that moment client usually have nothing to do other than pay the money and get the job done...
