If the peace agreement signed in early January between the Sudanese government and rebels is a genuine first step toward development and democracy, can oil be the engine? History says no. International oil companies and Khartoum have a long record of turning oil into war, says this commentary from Foreign Policy in Focus. The 2003 Human Rights Watch report Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights, asserts that the Sudanese government has "used oil infrastructure to support military action, and has increased its military spending as its oil revenues have increased."