Sudan kills 7 workers in remote area of North Darfur – rebels
August 12, 2008 (PARIS) — Darfur rebels accused the Sudanese government of killing seven people during an attack against a soda ach plant in north Darfur.
Jebel Atron in northern Darfur is one of the most important deposit of Trona or (soda ach) in the country. Not far from this area Sudanese government has just started a small campaign of 1,000 kilometers of seismic” works at Block 12A.
Abdel-Wahid al-Nour, the chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement has accused the Sudanese army of killing seven workers in Atron and Karam El-Tom where Durfuri used to extract the sodium carbonate.
The rebel chief said around 270 vehicles attacked the plant on Sunday August 10 and expelled the worker from the area.
Ansan Wikfs, a partner of Sudan-owned Sudapet, said last July they would begin seismic operations at Block 12A located in a remote area of northern Darfur. Sudapet, Ansan and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Qahtani Group are the joint-operators of Block 12A.
On the other hand the rebel leader said the National congress Party is not serious about peace in Darfur, adding that the government is recruiting new local militias and prepare for new attacks against rebel positions.
He also added that a security delegation led by defence minister Abdel-Rahim Hussein met last week with janjaweed leaders to fix their role and needs in the next period.
On August 6, Hussein headed a high ranking security delegation — including interior minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, and chief of security and intelligence services Salah Gosh – to assess the security situation in the three states of Darfur.
The defence minister said that the delegation has inspected the cooperation between the armed forces, other security forces. He further added that they discussed needs of the different parties to ensure the efficient functioning and to enable them to implement the rule of law and to maintain the security in the three states.
The Sudanese president, during his speech in El Fasher on July 23, admitted that there were crimes committed in Darfur and injustice. But he added that the government wanted to provide security and stability to the region.
(ST)