the US involvement is not a newfound whim of philanthropy by Washington. There is a deliberate strategic national interest: access to oil. Since the Clinton administration, the US has been angling to diversify its oil supplies away from the turbulent Middle East region.

The US has increased policing of the West Africaâ??s oil producing region. The US carrier USS Harry Truman has been deployed on Africaâ??s Atlantic coast under an exercise dubbed "Summer Pulse 04".

The US passes off the exercise as part of the war against terror, but the reason is the oilfields off the west coast of Africa, described as the fastest growing source of oil over the past 10 years.

The US strategic interests in Africa are in the unveiling of the "Africa Doctrine" last year, which involves stability of oil states and therefore energy security. One of the pillars of the doctrine is the African Coastal Security Programme announced in April 2003, weeks before the invasion of Iraq. To ensure stability in the supply of oil, the US is helping the Nigerian military contain civil unrest. And Nigeria has received four of seven military ships.

Despite insistent denials by US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Mr Walter Kansteiner, the signs are that a navy base is likely in the Gulf of Guinea, possibly on the Island of Sao Tome, where America is funding a deep-sea port. The US oil interests target Africaâ??s 20 per cent oil contribution to the world market and 60 million barrels of proven oil reserves west of the continent.

In June 2002, the BBC quoted oil industry sources confident of deep-water discoveries that would boost the production on the Atlantic rim for old players like Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and newcomers like Sao Tome.

Sudan falls into this orbit not for its current production levels but for its potential to supplement the Gulf of Guinea oil belt. With peace imminent in southern Sudan, Darfur can only be an inconvenience to a possible link line from Chad to the previously "blood oil" in Southern Sudan.