Wherever there are few independent journalists and outside observers--and this applies most frequently in Africa--one finds highly distorted information in US mainstream media designed to further the interests of the Empire and its corporations in the region. Ramzy Baroud's piece is a good attempt to correct this problem regarding the ongoing turmoil in Sudan.
The destabilization and balkanization of resource rich countries is one way for powerful countries to gain access to resources of poorer counties. The British practiced this most effectively with their carving up of the Middle East into compliant, weaker countries that they could play off against each other, followed by the division of India along religious lines. More recently we've seen this with the breakup of Yugoslavia by the US Empire.