FOREIGN oil firms working in southern Sudan are “legitimate targets” for attack, John Garang, the leader of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), said in an interview published on Sunday. “We hold the (Sudanese) government responsible for losses that could be suffered by workers and companies operating in the oil fields,” Garang told Al-Hayat newspaper. “These companies are threatening us by continuing to drill for oil. We will pursue our resistance, and we consider them as legitimate targets,” Garang told the daily. Chinese, Malaysian and Canadian oil companies are operating in southern Sudan, which began oil exports at the end of August 1999. -AFP
Sunday June 17, 2001