New armed group says it seized oil wells in Sudan’s Kordofan

By Faaiz al-Shaykh al-Salik, The London based Al-Hayat

ASMARA, Dec 21, 2004 — A new Sudanese armed opposition group has announced it has seized several oil wells in the centre of the country. The African Union (AU) meanwhile said that the firing at one of its helicopters in Darfur was preventing the observation force from carrying out its activities in view of the intensifying clashes between the Sudanese government forces and the rebels and the mediators’ suspension of the Abuja negotiations.

A member of Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) walks with his rifle at Ashma village 30 km (19 miles) from Nyala, south Darfur, October 6, 2004. (. (Reuters).

Two factions in eastern Sudan demanded an independent platform for negotiating with the government.

Ali Abd-al-Rahim al-Shandi, leader of the Sudanese National Movement “al-harakah al-wataniyah al-sudaniyah”, asserted to Al-Hayah that the “new movement that was launched in western Kordofan has seized the oil wells in the Sharif region, 30 km from the main Abu Jabirah oilfield, and Zarqa Umm Hadid, 17 km from Babanusah, and killed 120 government soldiers”.

The Sudanese government accused the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) of attacking the area, but Al-Shandi said: “We carried out the attack and expelled the Sudanese army in a lightning operation that upset all its calculations.” He revealed that the new movement’s “base includes 40 per cent of the people of the northern and central provinces and aims to remove the marginalization and the centre’s control”.

He pointed out that he is personally from Al-Shayiqiyah tribe to which First Vice-President Ali Osman Taha belongs and said: “The movement has made plans to strike the government in Kordofan, Darfur, eastern Sudan, and inside the capital so as to overthrow the government that has marginalized the Sudanese national program.” He called on the “armed factions to unite and escalate their operations instead of wasting time in negotiations that do not bring positive results”.

On the other hand, the Sudan Liberation Movement accused the Sudanese army of launching a major attack on the Bedouins areas east of Al-Fashir, Hasaknitah, and Marla and of shooting at an AU helicopter on Sunday night 19 December that was on a mission of observing the government forces’ withdrawal from the cities. The AU admitted the incident but refused to accuse any party, pointing out that the incident could prevent temporarily the African forces’ observation of military activities in Darfur.

Two factions in eastern Sudan meanwhile demanded a platform for negotiating with the government that is separate from the one where the government and the Democratic Alliance are negotiating in Cairo.

The Al-Baja Conference that is allied to the Free Lions, two important factions active in the east, set out the conditions for the dialogue, which are the “separate platform”, international sponsorship, and the guarantees if the Khartoum government wants peace. The Al-Baja Conference considered itself the “sole, legitimate representative of the east”. The two factions had withdrawn from the Cairo negotiations to protest “its neglect of the east’s problems”.

Material from the BBC Monitoring Service.