Sudanese official warns against attacks against oil sites
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Dec 21, 2004 (AP) — A senior Sudanese official Tuesday said the government would not tolerate rebel attacks on the country’s vital interests, particularly oil-related ones.
Ahmed Mohammed Haroun, state minister at the Interior Ministry, spoke to reporters days after a new rebel group attacked the Sharif oil field in South Darfur, killing 15 government soldiers and two oil workers.
The government Monday ordered its troops in three areas of Darfur to observe an immediate cease-fire, but Haroun said Sudan would not tolerate attacks on “vital interests, especially those related to oil.”
He refuted claims that the government had been attacking villages with warplanes.
The oil field attack was blamed on a new rebel group, the Sudanese National Movement for the Eradication of Marginalization, and Haroun said government troops were combing the area in pursuit of the attackers.
Haroun also accused Israel of supplying weapons to Darfur rebels.
“The information we have about Israel’s involvement in supporting the rebels with weapons is correct,” he said.
He said those involved were arrested by “a friendly country” and are under investigation. He did not name the country and provided no other details.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the allegation.
In Abuja, Nigeria, on Tuesday, the main two rebel groups negotiating with the Sudanese government pledged not to initiate attacks in Darfur region as African Union mediators called an end to stalemated 11-day old peace talks.
The Sudanese government made a similar promise Monday, saying Khartoum had ordered troops in three areas of Darfur to observe an immediate cease-fire.
The AU is monitoring an earlier, largely ignored cease-fire pact in Darfur, using about 800 AU soldiers and 100 observers.
Also Tuesday, a UNICEF official described the situation in Darfur as “very very tenuous,” and estimated that more than one million children are currently in refugee camps as a result of the conflict.
“We’re in desperate need of financial support to provide services for the people we’ve reached out to,” Keith McKenzie, UNICEF’s Special Representative on Darfur, said in a telephone interview from Chad.