Government dispatches mujahadeen to defend oil fields

Khartoum has sent out a first batch of "Protectors of Oil Brigade" mujahadeen (Islamic volunteers) to defend the industry, army spokesman Lieutenant-General Mohamed Osman Yassin said on Sudanese TV on Wednesday. He accused the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) "and those who supply them with funds and equipment" of wanting to deny the Sudanese people their resources. He said the mujahadeen were ready "to repulse any aggression and defeat conspiracy". Sudan is building a 1,000-mile oil pipeline from southern oilfields to Port Sudan and plans to export its first shipment of crude oil by 30 June. Opposition leaders expected to return Sadeq al-Mahdi, opposition Umma party leader and former prime minister, will return to Sudan soon, after a self-imposed exile, according to Speaker of Parliament Hassan al-Turabi, quoted by Reuters on Thursday. Mahdi was deposed in the 1989 military coup that brought President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to power. Turabi, who met Mahdi for talks in Geneva earlier this week, said there had also been contact with other opposition figures, neighbouring states and western countries to promote reconciliation and end the civil war in the south. On Tuesday, former Sudanese president Jaafar Nimeiri said heplanned to end 14 years of exile and return to Sudan to set up a political party with the government's consent.