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By Mohamed Osman
Associated Press
Friday, October 26, 2007; A15
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Oct. 25 -- Darfur rebels launched a brazen attack on Sudan's oil fields days before peace talks are scheduled to begin with the government, kidnapping two foreign workers and giving Chinese and other oil companies a week to leave the country, a commander said Thursday.
The rebel Justice and Equality Movement said it attacked the Chinese-run Defra oil field Tuesday in the neighboring Kordofan region, the group's latest attempt to broaden the battle beyond the Darfur region of western Sudan. "The latest attack is a message to the Chinese companies in particular," said Mohamed Bahr Hamdeen, the head of the rebel group in Kordofan. "The Chinese companies are the biggest investors in the Sudanese oil industry." Liu Jianchao, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, confirmed that rebels had surrounded a Chinese oil field in Sudan and said he hoped both sides in the fighting "will realize a comprehensive cease-fire and settle the Darfur issue through dialogue." Sudanese media said the kidnapped workers were a Canadian and an Iraqi national, but Hamdeen described them as an Iraqi and an Egyptian working for Schlumberger, a U.S.-based oil services company. The Sudanese military implicitly confirmed Thursday that the attack had taken place but said it was insignificant. "From a military point of view, they have done nothing," a Sudanese army spokesman said on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations. Darfur rebels, along with many international rights activists, accuse China of indirectly funding the Sudanese government's war effort in Darfur by massively investing in Sudan's oil industry. Sudan's government receives large royalties for the estimated 500,000 barrels that are pumped each day, and observers believe as much as 70 percent of this cash goes to the military. Peace talks between Darfur rebels and the government are scheduled to begin Saturday in Sirte, Libya. The talks are aimed at ending the 4 1/2-year conflict in the region that has left as many as 450,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. The violence began in 2003 when rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated government, which the rebels accused of decades of discrimination and neglect. The government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the Janjaweed -- a charge it denies.
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