Darfur rebels attack Chinese-backed oil field
By Darney Jopson in Tripoli and Harvey Morris at the United Nations
The violence originating in the Darfur region has began to spread outside its boarders. This past Thursday rebels claimed to have attacked a Chinese backed oil field in a neighboring Sudanese province. This does not bode well for the peace talks that began last Saturday. The Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), one of the main rebel groups, have claimed responsibility for the attack on the Defra oil field, as well as the kidnapping of two foreign workers from the plant. Jem’s announcement came just as all of the delegates arrived in Sirte, the Libyan town were the peace talks are being held. The peace talks will be challenging, especially because of the numerous divisions both within the rebel movements and the Khartoum government. There are now more than a dozen different rebel groups. Abdul Wahid al-Nour, one of the most influential rebel group leaders, has decided to boycott the peace talks until the government stops attacking and sponsoring attacks. The pace talks were originally set back because of the Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement officials withdrew from the parliament until the government observed and enforced the peace agreement that ended the civil war in 2005. The commander that announced Jem’s attack said, “This is a message to China and Chinese oil companies to stop helping the government with their war in Darfur.” The Jem spokesmen said the oil company has one week to vacate their consortium.
I think that Jem’s recent move of attacking the oil plant was extremely strategic. Unfortunately, I do not think that it will do much in the way of getting China to leave, but at least it sends them a message about the repercussions it may face from supporting the Sudanese government in the war against Darfur. The fact that one of the main groups has decided to boycott is both reasonable and unproductive. I understand that stance he wants to take by saying that we will not sit down at the negotiating table until the government stops attacking, but it is hard to try and make progress if you are unwilling to talk. The stances that these two rebel groups have taken are very reasonable, but I worry that if neither side is willing to budge the violence will only continue and grow in severity.
