I think he is a good man even though he has backed down a bit.
Who can blame him when you consider his age and the onslaught against him for even suggesting certain things?
And on this issue I agree -- for all people of the world. We should all be freed from the criminal debt governments have rung up in our name as they squandered and wasted trillions in tax loot.
"Carter urges nations to erase Sudan’s $39b debt" by Jason Straziuso, Associated Press / January 14, 2011
JUBA, Sudan — Former President Jimmy Carter called on the international community yesterday to forgive Sudan’s $39 billion debt burden so that dividing it between the north and south won’t become another issue to resolve after southern Sudan likely votes to become its own nation.
A weeklong independence referendum is expected to divide Africa’s largest nation in two, but officials have not yet determined how the finances will be separated.
The presidents of Sudan and southern Sudan “both hope the entire debt will be forgiven without getting them in another unnecessary argument about who has what percentage of the debt,’’ Carter said yesterday.
The World Bank said $30 billion of Sudan’s debt is currently in arrears, and southern Sudan remains desperately poor despite its substantial oil reserves.
I'm not feeling very hopeful about forgiveness at this point.
The entire region, which is about the size of France, has only 30 miles of paved roads. Only 15 percent of its population can read.
If that is true how could they know what they were voting for or against?
The United States has already offered Sudan’s government a range of incentives for a peaceful southern vote, including removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. In recent weeks Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has sought to play down fears of potential violence, saying the north will accept a vote for secession.
The north and south fought a two-decade war that killed 2 million people before a 2005 peace agreement.
You rarely read or see much about that here; it's mostly Darfur.
Sudan, geographically the largest country on the continent, will lose one-third of its land and nearly one-quarter of its population if the south secedes. Khartoum’s only consolation will be that the oil pipelines to get the product to market all run through its territory.
Carter has been in Sudan this week to monitor the historic independence vote and to meet with top officials. His foundation, the Carter Center, has been involved in health programs and democracy building in Sudan for more than two decades....
Carter said the world needed to continue to pay attention to Sudan in the coming months so that violence does not again flare up....
I'm comfortable with Carter on the case.
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