Army says oilfields “totally secure”

The armed forces of the Khartoum government have dismissed claims by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that it is besieging the key garrison town of Wau. Army spokesman Muhammad Bashir Sulayman was quoted by Sudanese newspaper ‘Al-Ra’y al-Amm’ as saying that claims by the SPLA that it was approaching Wau were nothing more than part of a “psychological warfare game it habitually practised”. Muhammad was quoted as saying that Wau was “completely safe” and that life in the town was normal. He added that the oil regions were “totally secure” and that the armed forces were “ready for any eventuality”.

SPLM/A spokesman Samson Kwaje had told AFP on Friday that rebel forces had surrounded Wau and agreed to requests by aid workers to evacuate the town. He said that the SPLA had agreed to allow staff of the United Nations, NGOs and the International Committee of the Red Cross to pull out. “Nothing is coming in. We have closed the town,” he was quoted as saying.