Sudan: Government dispatches mujahadeen to defend oil fields
IRIN, 6 May 1999 Khartoum has sent out a first batch of "Protectors of Oil Brigade" mujahadeen (Islamic volunteers) to defend the industry, army spokesman Lieutenant-General Mohamed Osman Yassin said on Sudanese TV on Wednesday. He accused the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) "and those who supply them with funds and equipment" of wanting to deny the Sudanese people their resources. He said the mujahadeen were ready "to repulse any aggression and defeat conspiracy". Sudan is building a 1,000-mile oil pipeline from southern oilfields to Port Sudan and plans to export its first shipment of crude oil by 30 June.
Rebels reportedly targeting oil facilities in the south and east
Government forces also claimed on Wednesday to have repulsed rebel attacks on oil installations in the south and east of the country. In a radio statement, Yassin said the SPLA had attacked Ler in southern Unity state on Sunday, and other unnamed "traitors and agents" had attacked Rasai in the eastern state of Kassala. "The attack on Ler targeted the country's oil production, while that on Rasai aimed at the oil pipeline and highway", Yassin said.
AFP news agency reported a claim on Wednesday by the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that it had destroyed a government military convoy in Kassala state, causing "massive destruction". NDA forces are trying to cut off the Port Sudan-Khartoum road, the NDA statement said.
Unfreezing of businessman's assets shows up US "falsehood"
Sudan has said that the US Treasury's decision on Monday to unfreeze the American assets of Saleh Idris, owner of the pharmaceutical plant destroyed in a US air raid last August, "testifies to the falsehood of the accusations against Sudan and to the erroneous attack on the factory on grounds that it produced chemical weapons". Junior foreign minister Ali Abdel Rahman Al-Nimeiri on Wednesday called on the US to pay compensation to those affected in the air strike and to reconsider all measures it has imposed on Sudan, "including all forms of political, economic and commercial sanctions". |
