The Sudanese government denied on Thursday an alleged attack by Darfur rebels on an oilfield neighboring the conflict-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur.
The denial came after the rebel Justice and Equality Movement ( JEM) announced on Wednesday that the group attacked on an oilfield in Western Kordofan State.
Sudanese Minister of Defense Abdul-Rahim Mohammed Hussein termed in a statement the announcement by the rebel group as " fabricated."
"There was not such an attack, the statement of the JEM was fabricated for political purposes," the Sudanese defense minister noted.
The oilfield, which is known as block 4, is operated by the Grand Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), a consortium involving India's ONGC, China's CNPC, Malaysia's Petronas and Sudanese state-owned Sudapet.
JEM alleged that it had attacked the oilfield, killing 20 Sudanese army soldiers and kidnaping two foreign oil workers, one Canadian and one Iraqi.
The rebel movement said that it would launch more attacks on the petroleum facilities in the country until the Sudanese government responded a series of demands the movement had raised.
Ahamed Tujoud, the chief negotiator of the movement for the peace talks with the Sudanese government, said that "it was only the beginning, we will launch more attacks all over the country and the main goal is the oilfields.
The peace talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel movements are scheduled to resume on Saturday in Libya's coastal city of Sirte.
Some rebel factions in Darfur, including Abdul Wahed Mohammed Nour, the founder of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and half a dozen of factions of the JEM, have announced their boycott of the Sirte negotiations while some others called for a postponement.
Both the United Nations and the African Union, which will cochair the negotiations, have insisted that the negotiations would be held on schedule.
Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir flew to Tripoli on Thursday for talks with Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi on the arrangements of the Darfur peace negotiations.
Source: Xinhua
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