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Sudan Rebel Leader Threatens
to Attack Foreign Oil Firms
CAIRO, June 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Sudanese rebel leader John Garang warned in an interview published Sunday that foreign oil firms in Sudan were "legitimate targets" for attacks and vowed his forces would one day seize the oil fields.
"We hold the (Sudanese) government responsible for losses that could be suffered by workers and companies operating in the oil fields," Garang, leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), told the London-based Arabic language al-Hayat newspaper.
"These companies are threatening U.S. by continuing to drill for oil. We will pursue our resistance, and we consider them as legitimate targets," Garang told the daily.
The SPLA accuses Khartoum of using oil revenues to fund the war against the mostly Christian and animist southern separatists. The government has been exporting oil since the end of August 1999 with the help of Chinese, Malaysian, Canadian, Swedish and other companies.
Garang, who gave the interview in the Eritrean capital Asmara amid SPLA advances toward the oil regions, also reiterated that Khartoum must suspend oil operations as a condition for a ceasefire in the 18-year civil war which the rebels started for separation from Sudan.
The government and the SPLA agreed to negotiate a ceasefire during a regional summit in Nairobi on June 2 but the SPLA asked the government to suspend its oil operations.
Asked if he had plans to capture the oil regions, Garang replied: "We will take control of all the oil fields. I cannot tell you exactly when. But we are going to expel them (government troops). I have no doubt about it", news agencies said.
Sudan's president, Omar al-Beshir, vowed June 7 "never to relinquish the oilfields" as he mobilized pro-government fighters to help the army drive back a rebel offensive in the oil-rich south.
The United States House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday making it illegal for foreign companies doing business in Sudan to be listed on U.S. stock exchanges without fully divulging their activities.
According to the BBC online news service, the legislation is aimed to identify and stop companies operating in Sudan from aiding the government's war effort against the rebels.
The Sudanese government reacted Thursday by criticizing the draft bill adopted by the U.S. Congress, saying it includes negative signals that are not in the service of the efforts made by the Sudanese government in order to end the bloody and violent rebellion in Southern Sudan.
Recently the U.S. Bush administration has paid increasing attention to Sudan because according to the New York Times it involves two important domestic constituencies: oil and religion.
Oil is an issue because it began flowing in Sudan in 1998 and U.S. companies cannot operate there.
Moreover, the evangelical Christian right and the Roman Catholic Church, both of which the White House is courting for the next presidential election, want the Bush administration to deal with all parties in the Sudan to try to quickly end the fighting there while arming the Christian rebels in southern Sudan so they can press their fight for separation from the northern government, which is Islamic.
Under the presidency of Bill Clinton, sanctions were imposed on Sudan for alleged involvement in "terrorist" activities.
Correspondents of Western news agencies estimate that up to two million people have been killed in the nearly two decades Sudanese conflict - mainly through war-related famine - while a further four million have been displaced.
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