|
Sudan's Beshir Vows to Recapture Rebel-Held Areas
KHARTOUM, June 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir visited the besieged south Sudanese government garrison town of Wau Monday, vowing to rid the area of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
"The battle for purging Bahr el-Ghazal of the rebellion has already begun," Beshir was quoted by the official SUNA news agency as saying in a fiery speech at a rally held in Wau, the capital of Bahr el-Ghazal province.
The SPLA has captured a number of key towns in the province, and is around 12 kilometers (seven miles) west of Wau, spokesman Yasser Arman told the French news wire AFP on Sunday.
The SPLA, which recruits among African tribes in the south who are animist or Christian, has been waging an 18-year war against successive central governments in Khartoum.
SUNA said Beshir paid a short visit to Wau on Monday, where in addition to addressing rally goers, he met with senior army officers and regional government officials and inspected the region.
He pledged that his government would continue with its program of development and rehabilitation in southern Sudan "in spite of the ongoing war."
Beshir said his government advocates peace and "we welcome peace advocates and we are prepared to fight those who prefer war in defense of our soil and citizens," SUNA reported.
The Sudanese president also accused the United States of pushing the SPLA to demand an end to oil operations as a condition for a ceasefire.
Leader of the SPLA rebels, John Garang, warned in an interview published on Sunday that foreign oil firms in Sudan were "legitimate targets" for attack and vowed that his forces would one day seize the oil fields.
The SPLA accuses Khartoum of using oil revenues to wage the war against the 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.
"We hold the (Sudanese) government responsible for losses that could be suffered by workers and companies operating in the oil fields," Garang, 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 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.
When 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 "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 aims 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 to end the bloody and violent rebellion in Southern Sudan.
Recently the U.S. Bush administration has paid increasing attention to Sudan because it involves two important domestic constituencies: oil and religion.
Oil is an issue because it began flowing in Sudan in 1998 and because 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 in order 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 its 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.
|
