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Table of Contents
Sudan Monthly Report
US, Says Rebels optimistic about peace.
SPLA IN FIRM CONTROL OF RAGA TOWN.
SPLM/ SPLA OFFICIAL POSITION ON THE JOINT EGYPTIAN- LIBYAN INITIATIVE (JELI).
SPLA CAPTURES ONE STEAMER AND THREE MOTOR BOATS August 15th
SPLA DESTROYS AN ENEMY CONVOY IN WESTERN UPPER NILE August 9th
SPLA SCORES VICTORIES IN THE NUBA MOUNTAINS August 8th 2001
Pumping of oil stops
SPLA destroys oil installations
Talisman News Release
A monthly production
March 15, 2002
Sudan Catholic Information Office (SCIO)
Content:
1. Chronology
2. Khartoum targets civilians as it eyes the oilfields
1. Chronology
February 16: A Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church has suggested that it is the time to launch an international campaign of protest against Sudan for violating human rights. Cardinal Roberto Tucci, president of Vatican Radio's administration committee, made the call when commenting on the case of a non-Muslim southern woman who had been condemned to death for alleged adultery. “The Sharia (Islamic law) has been applied to a person who is not Muslim,” he said. “It would be appropriate to start a campaign of protest against what is happening.”
16: A Sudanese health worker and four other Sudanese civilians were killed when three bombs were dropped by a government aircraft on the village of Nimne in Western Upper Nile, the international medical aid organisation, Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said. James Koang Mar was an MSF employee in a primary health care unit in Nimne.
16: Sudan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mustafa Ismail said that the Sudanese government, increasingly war-weary and encouraged by US peace initiatives, was committed to ending the country's civil war. “We are ready for a ceasefire tomorrow, and for that ceasefire to be monitored by international monitors,” he told Reuters.
17: A breakaway faction of Sudan's ruling Islamist government said it has built on a year-old agreement with the SPLA in a bid to end the war. The Popular National Congress (PNC) led by Islamist ideologue Hassan al-Turabi said it reached another agreement with the SPLA after talks in Germany. The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Switzerland a year ago.
17: Sudanese troops have arrived in Central African Republic (CAR) as part of a regional peacekeeping force to ensure stability, despite opposition from the African Unity. A Sudanese general arrived with the troops that are being housed at the former French military base in the northern outskirts of the capital, Bangui.
17: A delegation of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) concluded a visit to the US during which they met with the Sudanese Diaspora in the US. The Secretary-General of the NDA, Pagan Amun, gave a political lecture at the American Centre for Political Studies on the axis of peace and democracy, and the future of Sudan.
18: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila arrived in Khartoum for a two-day official visit aimed at cementing ties that flourished under his late father, Laurent Kabila. The pro-government Akhbar al-Youm newspaper said Kabila and his Sudanese counterpart, President Omer el Bashir would discuss bilateral relations and joint cooperation.
19: Sudan and the DRC agreed on enhancing economic, trade and technical ties after talks between President Bashir and his Congolese counterpart Kabila. In a communiqué issued at the end of Kabila's visit, the two sides also called for restoring security and stability in the Great Lakes region.
19: European Union (EU) ambassadors found during a visit to the Nuba Mountains that a cease-fire agreed for the area in January this year has been respected “on the whole”, a EU statement said. The EU mission “welcomed the fact that the ceasefire has so far on the whole been respected by both sides,” according to the statement issued by the German Embassy in Khartoum.
20: Sudan has pledged its support for the lifting of UN sanctions against Iraq, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported. This was after a visit to Iraq by Khartoum’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mustafa Ismail who also briefed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the latest economic and political developments in Sudan and efforts to achieve peace in the country.
20: The UNICEF in Sudan has said it plans to make peace building and the promotion of human rights central themes in its programme of humanitarian assistance during 2002. “Assisting communities to resolve their differences at a grass-roots level will positively impact on support given to health, nutrition, water and sanitation and education activities,” the agency said while launching a US.5 million appeal to provide humanitarian assistance to women and children.
21: The US State Department suspended talks with Khartoum after a Sudanese helicopter fired rockets at civilians gathered to receive aid food at a World Food Programme (WFP) relief centre in Bieh, Western Upper Nile killed 17 people and injured dozens more. Calling it part of a “pattern of senseless and brutal attacks by the government against innocent civilians,” the Department said, “these attacks raise serious questions about the Sudanese government's commitment to peace and the lives of its people.”
21: The Sudanese army denied it was deliberately targeting civilians, hours after WFP reported that an air force helicopter had fired on people queuing for food aid, killing 17 and wounding many others.
21: French ambassador in Khartoum Dominic Reno has said that his country was studying the possibility of contributing money for the implementation of the Nuba Mountains cease-fire agreement. The ambassador hoped that 2002 would be a year of peace in Sudan.
22: A peace accord intended to help end decades of ethnic conflicts between the Dinka Ngok and the Arab Massyiria ethnic communities of Abyei and Muglad, Southern Kordofan, south-central Sudan, can help boost efforts to end the country's civil war, diplomatic sources in Khartoum told IRIN. In the agreement, signed by leaders of the two communities on January 31 after the support in negotiations of the Netherlands embassy in Khartoum, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the EU, the two sides vowed to put aside their differences and ensure justice among them.
22: The Sudanese army said that it has captured a major airport used by the SPLA to attack oil fields in Western Upper Nile. After fierce battles, the army took over the airport in the Nhialdiu near the Bentiu oilfields, 800kms south of Khartoum, army spokesman Gen Mohammed Bashir Suleiman said in a statement, which did not mention casualties.
22: Humanitarian field workers and local authorities have described Bieh where a government gunship killed 17 people as being “highly food insecure”, according to the Famine Early Warning System Network. The population's vulnerability follows poor harvest last year, non-cultivation by the population, which migrated further south towards “the Promised Land”, identified by a self-declared prophet and seasonal flooding damaged crops.
22: British Foreign Office Minister responsible for Sudan Baroness Valerie Amos expressed her concern over the killing of 17 people by a government aerial bomber in Bieh. “We have expressed concern at a high level of the Sudanese government about reports that a Sudanese government helicopter gunship fired on civilians. We have asked the Sudanese government for a full explanation,” she said.
23: Eighteen Sudanese men trying to reach Libya for work died of thirst and hunger after their truck broke down in the northwestern desert of Sudan, the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) reported. Another 81 were rescued after a camel rider came across the stranded group and brought help from a nearby oasis near Al-Fasher, capital of Northern Darfur Province.
23: Amnesty International said it is the corporate duty of Canada’s Talisman Energy to press the Sudanese government on human rights violations, a Canadian paper, The Ottawa Citizen reported. Jeff Flood, spokesman for the Canadian branch of Amnesty International, also said there is no evidence that Talisman's continued oil ventures in Sudan are directly linked to attacks on civilians in Khartoum.
24: High-profile Western campaigners who spent millions of dollars buying the freedom of slaves in Sudan have been the victims of a scam, a British daily paper, The Independent reported. According to witnesses, local villagers are rounded up to pose as slaves when Christian groups arrive with briefcases full of money. The “slave traders” are sometimes disguised SPLA soldiers, added the paper.
24: Sudan has said it will investigate a government attack, which killed 17 civilians waiting for food aid in Bieh, SUNA reported. “The Ministry of Defence has formed a high level committee to investigate the incident at Bieh and it will present its recommendations speedily to the quarters concerned,” said a statement from the country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
23: Switzerland will not send military observers to Sudan to monitor the cease-fire agreed between the Sudanese government and SPLA for the Nuba Mountains. Oswald Sigg, spokesman for the defence ministry, told the Swiss daily newspaper TagesAnzeiger such a mission would be impossible without a mandate from the UN or the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
24: Possible US military action against Sudan poses a threat to China's energy security in 2002, a government-funded Chinese think tank said. Sudan's placement on a list of potential terrorist states by the US might interrupt crude oil imports to China, the report says, quoting an official at China’s State Information Centre, a research and analysis unit of the State Development Planning Commission.
25: Former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, are scheduled to attend in early March an international conference on the eradication of Guinea worm disease in Khartoum. The duo is expected to push anew for a combined effort to make the disease the second to be eradicated worldwide.
25: Sudan's ruling party criticised as “hasty” a decision by the US to suspend its participation in the peace process until the government explained the killing of 17 civilians in an air raid. A spokesman for the National Congress (NC) party said the US move was “hasty and lacking good intention for the realisation of peace” in the country.
25: A young Sudanese Christian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery was instead given 75 lashes and then released, human-rights activists in the US and Germany told United Press International (UPI). They said that while this punishment was still cruel, the reduction of her sentence nevertheless proved that the Sudan did heed international pressure. It was unclear whether 18-year old Abok Alfa Akok was still pregnant at the time she was flogged.
27: A conference facilitated by New Sudan Youth Association (NSYA) opened in Nairobi, Kenya, with participants urging the international community to support the initiative of peace and unity in their country. The three-day meeting, which seeks to create an environment where peace, justice and the rights of the youth are recognised, brought together three youth groups from the SPLA, the Sudan Peoples Democratic Front (SPDF) and South Sudan Youth Development (SSYD).
27: Sudan has struck a deal to sell cane sugar to EU countries, Industry Minister Jalal Addigair announced. He said the shipment would commence in April, adding that the agreement was part of EU's decision to import sugar from 12 of the world's least developed nations.
28: Former US President Jimmy Carter said he would speak to Sudan's government and southern rebels on ways of arranging a ceasefire to help promote health programmes in the war-torn country. “We are working...on trying to bring peace to Sudan so that we can pursue our efforts against Guinea worm, river blindness and trachoma,” Carter told Reuters.
28: SPLA leader, John Garang was due to arrive in London in his first visit to Britain since 1989, reported Al-Ra'y al-Akhar newspaper. The paper said that will address the Sudanese community at the Emmanuel Centre in London.
28: Khartoum said it had foiled a rebel attempt to blast a hole in the national pipeline that carries crude oil to the Red Sea. The explosives were discovered along with political leaflets on February 22, 500 kilometres east of Khartoum. The pamphlets were issued by the Beja Congress, which operates in northeast Sudan.
28: A recent escalation in military activity in Western Upper Nile could be due to a major government offensive to gain control of oil production areas, according to humanitarian sources. “An offensive which started around November has been increased in the last few weeks. We have reports that troops have come in from Kassala in eastern Sudan and from the Nuba Mountains following the cease-fire agreement there,” aid workers told IRIN.
March 1: Sudan has launched an investigation into the February 20 bombing of civilians by the army, which left 17 dead, the Sudanese embassy in Madrid said. In its statement, the embassy said that the aim of the enquiry was “to avoid such tragic incidents in the future”.
1: The Sudanese government further restricted the areas where aid agencies can work following an increase in fighting and a government attack on a food distribution centre, a UN spokeswoman said. Each month, a UN umbrella group, Operation Lifeline Sudan, submits a request to the government requesting permission for aid agencies to fly aid into southern Sudan.
1: The SPLA has merged with the most important armed opposition force in the mostly Muslim north, their leaders said. John Garang and Abdel Aziz Khaled of the predominantly northern Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF) announced the “unification”, in a communiqué faxed to AFP.
1: Major aid agencies in Sudan urged the UN to put pressure on the government and rebel groups to end the growing violence against civilians in the south of the country. In an appeal addressed to the UN, the EU, the US and other countries concerned with the country’s chronic civil war, the agencies said they were “observing large movements of displaced people”. Among the agencies that signed the appeal were Save The Children, Oxfam, Christian Aid and CARE International.
1: Canada strongly criticized the Sudanese government for launching two “inexcusable” attacks on civilians and aid workers earlier this month in which at least 19 people were killed. Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham and Senator Lois Wilson, Canada's special envoy for Sudan issued a joint statement urging Khartoum to immediately stop attacking civilian targets.
2: Eight senior southern Sudanese politicians urged the EU to review its aid policy for Sudan in light of the helicopter raid on Bieh, a statement said. They said that incidents such as the February 20 raid “have made Sudan exceedingly well known for bad human rights records.” Joseph Ukel, head of the Union of Sudan African Parties, former Sudanese vice president Abel Alier, and six other top politicians signed the statement.
2: The Sudanese government will officially apologise to WFP for the army helicopter strikes on a WFP food line in Bieh, a Sudanese newspaper said. Foreign Affairs Minister Mustafa Ismail instructed Sudan's ambassador to Italy, Andrew Makur, to convey Khartoum's apologies to the Rome-based WFP, the independent Al-Watan daily reported.
2: Sudan said restrictions on areas where aid agencies can work are only temporary to help the government verify the location of aid deliveries in the SPLA-held south, said Sulaful Din Salih, head of the government Sudan Humanitarian Aid Commission (SHAC). Salih said the restriction will be used to clarify the names and maps of places where food aid is being delivered.
3: Jimmy Carter arrived in Khartoum for a health conference on the eradication of guinea worm. President Bashir’s adviser on peace, Ghazi Salah Eddin and the Minister of Health Ahmed Bilal received Carter at Khartoum airport.
3: International aid agencies have warned that civilians are being increasingly targeted as fighting escalates over Sudan's southern oilfields and fear a humanitarian catastrophe unless the world acts soon, reported the Financial Times newspaper of London. After several weeks of intensifying conflict between Khartoum and the SPLA, 12 organisations - including Oxfam, Save the Children and Care International - have urged the UN, the US and Europe “to relay a clear and consistent message that attacks against innocent civilians and humanitarian facilities are unacceptable”.
3: Three British Christian development charities called on the US and British governments to take the necessary steps to convince all parties engaged in the Sudanese civil war to negotiate peace rather than continuing to pursue military options. The call was made by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), Christian Aid and Tearfund in advance of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum, a conference of Sudan's religious leaders and their external friends, due to be held in London from March 4-6.
3: A government helicopter-gunship that killed 17 people in Bieh specifically targeted the homes of civilians and fired on people as they ran for cover during an attack, humanitarian sources told IRIN. The gunship hovered over a compound housing several aid agencies before firing horizontally, aiming at civilian homes, according to relief workers citing civilians who fled Bieh after the attack.
3: John Garang said in London he won't declare a cease-fire in fighting with government forces despite his call for peace through negotiations. In an interview with UPI, Garang said his movement's call for peaceful negotiations “does not mean relinquishing the military option in confronting the ruling regime in Khartoum.”
3: The EU will support a “unique” proposal by non-governmental groups to locate landmines in Sudan, the Union’s ambassador to Khartoum said. The commission would provide US$1.3 million for an initial period of one year for the Sudan Landmine Information and Response Initiative.
3: President Bashir will marry the widow of a colleague who died in a plane crash in southern Sudan last year, an independent newspaper reported. Bashir decided to marry the widow of Major General Ibrahim Shams Eddin, who died last April in a plane crash in southern Sudan, Akhbar Al Yom daily reported, indicating that the marriage would be held by mid-March.
3: The Sudanese government expressed deep regret for an attack at a WFP centre in Bieh saying it was a mistake. “We deeply regret this appalling event,” said the presidential adviser, Ghazi Salah Eddin in a statement released by the Sudanese Embassy in London.
4: Jimmy Carter urged the warring parties in Sudan to back a nation-wide cease-fire to back a project to help eradicate Guinea worm disease. Carter said this after he and President Bashir jointly opened a four-day health conference in Khartoum on the debilitating disease.
4: Sudanese officials told the US State Department that their government will agree to end attacks on civilians and allow international monitors to verify the ceasefire. “We reached an agreement,” former US Ambassador Robert Oakley told UPI but he said the papers have not been signed.
4: The UN system has confirmed that it was in discussions with the Sudanese government in an effort to reverse restrictions on humanitarian flights in parts of southern Sudan. “We are engaged in discussions within the UN system to get a review of this decision,” WFP spokeswoman, Laura Melo, told IRIN.
4: Sudan said it has accepted a revised US proposal to end the war, agreeing that its forces would “protect civilians” instead of “ceasing the bombardment of civilian targets” - a point strongly contested by the government. Khartoum insisted it does not target civilians in its war.
5: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met with Garang and urged him to do everything possible to help bring his country's civil war to an end. In a statement, Straw urged Garang to work with all the factions in Sudan to find a way of ending the conflict.
5: A UN human rights investigator urged Sudan government to stop bombing civilian targets and crack down on an allied militia accused of mass killings and abducting slaves. Gerhart Baum, the special rapporteur on Sudan, also said oil concessions to foreign companies had “seriously exacerbated” the civil war and contributed to a deterioration in the overall human rights situation.
5: The WFP expressed concern about hundreds of thousands of people cut off by a Sudanese government ban on its humanitarian flights into the south of the country. WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said that nearly 500,000 people, already vulnerable from the effects of war and insecurity, were at risk because of the ban.
6: US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington had warned Sudan it could forget forging closer ties with America if it violated a pledge to stop bombing civilians. He told members of the US Congress that Washington had told Sudan the “process of moving forward, of an opportunity for a better relationship, will come to a dead halt with the continuation of this kind of activity.”
6: Britain has pledged US$1 million for international monitoring of the ceasefire in the Nuba Mountains. The announcement followed a meeting in London between British Foreign Secretary Straw and Garang.
5: The WFP said that there has been a partial lifting of restrictions on humanitarian relief flights in southern Sudan. A WFP spokeswoman, Laura Melo, told IRIN that the Sudanese government had removed an effective one-week blanket ban on flights in western Upper Nile following discussions with UN officials.
5: The US said that a deal was emerging with Sudan to end the Khartoum government's bombing of civilians. A recent upsurge of bombing incidents involving of civilians by Khartoum led to a suspension of US mediation in the country's conflict last month.
5: The opposition UMMA party and the SPLA have agreed to restore ties and to continue engaging in dialogue to bring about peace and stability in Sudan. This was after a meeting in London between John Garang and UMMA leader Mubarak al-Fadl.
5: The January 6, 2002 merger declaration between the SPLA and the SPDF could be put to the test following claims by a militia group that the pact has become an instrument of violence against the people of Eastern and Central Upper Nile region who are outside the agreement. An official of the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM), William Kuol Chuol, said the merger could instead rally the two rebel groups against the SSLM controlled area.
6: Talisman’s profits for last year declined by 82 percent in the fourth quarter due to falling oil and gas prices. But the company said it made record US.5 billion in cash flow up from US.4 billion in 2000, while profit was US, down from US a year earlier.
6: .Sudan expects international observers to arrive soon to monitor the Nuba Mountain ceasefire, a leading Khartoum newspaper said. “A joint military committee will arrive in Khartoum soon to monitor the cease-fire between the government and the rebels in the Nuba Mountains sector in implementation of the Swiss agreement,” the daily al-Anbaa said.
6: Talisman is working hard at selling its controversial stake in the oilfields of Sudan, president Jim Buckee hinted. “We like the property a lot, we like the people, but others have approached us with respect to a sale,” Buckee told analysts.
7: Garang denied that foreign pressure is being exerted on the SPLA to end the war. In an interview by Dubai newspaper Al-Bayan he insisted on “a constitutional separation between church and state” within the context of a single state adding that his movement was pursuing “new domestic action inside the cities”.
7: Fayizah Abu al-Naja, head of Egypt's delegation to the meeting of the Community of Sahelian and Sahara States (COMESSA), objected to a paragraph in the final statement on merging the Egyptian-Libyan and IGAD initiatives on Sudan. She pointed out that Egypt wants co-ordination between the two initiatives, rather than merging them.
7: International monitors met Sudanese army officials ahead of monitoring a cease-fire deal in the Nuba Mountains, a daily paper, Akhbar al-Youm reported. “The meeting was a briefing on the mission of the committee and co-ordination between it and the armed forces,” the pro-government paper quoted a Sudanese army official as saying.
7: Austrian oil and gas group OMV said that it hoped to resume exploration activities soon in Sudan. OMV is part of a consortium led by Swedish oil explorer Lundin Petroleum exploring in Sudan's Block 5A. The consortium suspended drilling operations in the block, one of Sudan's choicest hydrocarbon exploration sites, on January 22 when it could no longer guarantee the security of its staff.
7: Ugandan troops will remain in southern Sudan as long as Ugandan rebels based there pose a threat, the defence minister said. “We will keep pursuing (the rebels) in Sudan,” said Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi. Uganda sent about 700 troops into southern Sudan to pursue LRA rebels on February 24.
8: A broad coalition of Sudanese civil society groups and indigenous non-governmental organisations (NGOs) called on the UN Security Council to create “safe havens” in southern Sudan in order to protect civilians from what it called a government “scorched earth policy”. The call came from the Federation of Sudanese Civil Society Organisations (FOSCO) in a statement issued jointly with the New Sudanese Indigenous NGO Network (NESI).
10: Sudan signed a US brokered agreement to protect civilians as the US stepped up efforts to end the country’s civil war. The deputy foreign minister, Mutrif Sadiq, and American Charge D’Affaires Raymond Brown signed the agreement, which included all mechanisms for the protection of civilian infrastructure. It also defines a civilian as a person not involved in fighting.
10: Any agreement between the UMMA Party and other political groups in Sudan is aimed at combating totalitarianism and an agenda of war; the party’s chairman was quoted as saying by The Khartoum Monitor newspaper. Sadiq al-Mahdi said that his party was against war and will never participate in any agreement that provokes a situation of war.
10: John Garang, arrived in Washington for a one-week official visit at the invitation of the US administration. An SPLA spokesman, Yasir Arman, said Garang will meet during the visit US officials, members of the Congress, the Senate, and pressure groups concerned with the Sudan issue, besides meeting members of human rights and civil society organisations.
11: Delegates at a Sudan Ecumenical Forum seminar held in London, warned that any peace settlement in Sudan “must be just and lasting and not a quick-fix solution.” The conference held from March 4-6 brought together religious leaders from Sudan and their world-wide church partners in an effort to promote dialogue and “find solutions to the problems that lie at the heart of Sudan's conflict”, according to Christian Aid and Tearfund, co-sponsors of the event.
11: A US-brokered truce between Khartoum and the SPLA has made it possible for polio vaccination teams to reach about 189,000 children in south-central Sudan, a top regional official said. “This cease-fire agreement has tremendous effects here. We believe our vaccination campaign will be successful partially thanks to it,” said Bashir Ibrahim, Acting Governor of Southern Kordofan State under which the Nuba Mountains fall.
12: The second joint sitting in the third session of dialogue between Sudan and the EU was held in Khartoum during which the two parties reviewed the Nuba Mountains ceasefire. The meeting was also informed about the signing by the SPLA of an American deal on the protection of civilians in the country.
12: John Garang questioned the effectiveness of a US-brokered deal with the country's government to protect civilians in the country's civil war. “They can sign any agreement with the United States, the question is what if they violate this agreement. What is the price of non-compliance?" Garang asked at the start of a two-week private visit to the US.
13: Sudan gave Uganda the green light to make limited attacks on bases of LRA rebels on its territory following resurgence in attacks by the rebel group. “Now that we have agreed, working together we shall move to where (LRA leader Joseph) Kony is and finish this once and for all,” Uganda army spokesman Major Shaban Bantariza told Reuters.
14: The government of the Sudan has offered to train police officers from the member states of the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Conference (EAPCCO), newspaper New Vision reported. A joint communiqué issue at the end of a three-day training and planning sub-committee meeting at Seeta town, some 15 kilometres east of Kampala, said that the Sudan had agreed to train police officers at subsidised rates. Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Seychelles, Eritrea and Uganda attended the meeting.
14: The European Commission (EC) recently announced its decision to support a major programme, endorsed by both the government of Sudan and the SPLA, to tackle the serious problem of land mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the country. The programme "will involve cross-line activities, and constitute a very strong message for peace" by allowing civil society to build up an initiative to deal with land mines even as the country is still at war, according to the EC.
14: Sudan will formally let Ugandan troops enter Sudanese territory to hunt down Ugandan opposition rebels, a Sudanese official said. The neighbouring African nations signed an agreement permitting Ugandan soldiers to "carry out limited military operations inside the Sudanese border to eliminate the Lord's Resistance Army," said Serageldin Hamed, the Sudanese charge d'affairs in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.
2. Khartoum targets civilians as it eyes the oilfields
A quest by the Sudan government to tighten its grip on the country’s oilfields has occasioned an upsurge of attacks by government forces on civilians.
Observers also note that Khartoum was upping the military campaign in a bid to assure frightened foreign oil firms that their investments were secure from attacks by the SPLA, which has declared these installations legitimate military targets.
A casualty of SPLA attacks is an international consortium led by Sweden’s Lundin Oil, which in January 22 was forced to suspend operations in Blocks 5a and 5b citing insecurity as the reason for the exit. Other members of the consortium are Malaysia's national oil and gas utility, Petronas, its Sudan equivalent, Sudapet and Austria’s OMV.
The quest to control the oilfields aside, Khartoum seems to have also been provoked by the January 6 unity pact between the SPLA and the Sudan People's Democratic Front (SPDF). The deal not only threatens Khartoum’s designs for the oilfields, but the government’s overall war scheme, which in recent years has been, dependent on the petrodollars. Even with denials, there is evidence that the Sudanese government is using the petrodollars to beef its war chest and defeat in the oilfields represents a serious military setback.
SPLA sources say that the brutal air and ground offensive began in November when the current dry season set in and the action is concentrated in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Central and Western Upper Nile regions. The dry season, which is expected to end in May, makes it possible to move large troops and artillery and also make precise aerial strikes. Which is why, says relief workers, Khartoum has been busy ferrying thousands of troops from other parts of the country.
“We have reports that troops have come in from Kassala in eastern Sudan and from the Nuba Mountains following the cease-fire agreement there,” aid workers told the UN information agency, IRIN.
One consequence of such troop movements is an upsurge of attacks on civilians. On February 16, a government bomber hit a health clinic in Nimne, Western Upper Nile killing one person. Four days later, it was the turn of a World Food Programme (WFP) relief centre in Bieh, which lies in the same area to be bombed. The devastating attack left 17 people dead eliciting condemnation from the US. An enraged Washington suspended any peace talks with Khartoum terming the bombing “pattern of senseless and brutal attacks by the government against innocent civilians’’.
“These attacks raise serious questions about the Sudanese government's commitment to peace and the lives of its people,” said a statement by the US State Department. But Britain, which has not shied from backing investments in Sudan’s volatile oil industry notwithstanding the oil-linked human rights abuses only, expressed “concern.” The usually placid relief agencies concerned with the situation lamented what they called an “increased level of civilian abuse” by the Khartoum regime which they also pointed was acting in apparent ignorance of the Geneva conventions. The offensive was relentless and on February 22 Khartoum said that its army had captured a major airport in Nhialdiu which was being used by the SPLA to attack oil fields in Western Upper Nile. Nhialdiu lies 20km Southeast of the oil capital, Bentiu.
Having upped the military stakes, Khartoum next cut off famine-stricken areas in Western Upper Nile from getting assistance by slapping relief agencies with flight bans. On March 1, the government increased the number of off-limits areas for aid workers from 26 locations to 45 with most of these bordering the oilfields. The consequence, said WFP spokeswoman, Christiane Berthiaume is that close 500, 000 civilians now face an uncertain future. “There are 490,000 people who are cut off from food aid which they need to survive,” she said.
Such moves have elicited more condemnation by the international community. Khartoum, however, denies any wrongdoing. It rejects charges that it was targeting civilians blaming such attacks on technical faults and wayward military commanders. But keen Sudan watchers shoot down such apologies pointing that attacks on civilians is part of Khartoum’s strategy to fully conquer the oilfields.
“If Khartoum were to forego attacking civilians it would have to abandon its current military strategy in the oilfields. Its entire strategy is based upon displacing the population that lives around the oilfields,” Alex de Waal of Justice Africa told The Guardian of London newspaper.
“The government has started its ritual dry-season offensive with military mobilisation and attacks on SPLA positions in oil-rich areas of Western Upper Nile and Central Upper Nile,” said SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje.
It is then not surprising that Central and Western Upper Nile have been engulfed by some of the fiercest fighting in months. According to the SPLA, on January 14 it repulsed a government force of 7000 men, comprising regular government soldiers and militiamen, supported by two helicopter gunships and an Antonov bomber, between Nhialdiu and Bentiu. The SPLA claims its forces now control the Bentiu-Rier road that links far-flung oilfields to Bentiu. In an earlier development, the rebels engaged a flotilla of government barges on the Bahr al-Zaraf river, sinking two of them, and a land convoy from Malakal town in Central Upper Nile advancing on Leer (Western Upper Nile), which it had repulsed and forced to withdraw.
According to The Guardian, the government relying heavily on air power, regular troops and militias attacked and burned villages close to the oilfields and the oil road, driving ordinary people from all areas previously controlled by the SPDF. To swell the ranks of Khartoum's army, southern males have been rounded up all over the government-controlled north and forced into military service, added the paper.
Khartoum disputes this saying that “nothing like a dry-season offensive” because the clashes around the oilfields begun “some months ago”. Muhammad Ahmed Dirdiery, Charge d'Affaires at the Sudanese embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, recently boasted to IRIN that Western Upper Nile was “almost 100 percent” under government control with only “a few pockets here and there” still occupied by the SPLA.
It is against such background that on March 7, Austria’s OMV indicated that it was willing to resume operations in the country though it was clear that conditions that had forced it in the first place had deteriorated.
Sudan Catholic Information Office (SCIO)
Bethany House
P.O Box 21102
Nairobi, Kenya
E-mail: SCIO@maf.or.ke
Tel 254-2-577616/ 577949/ 577595
Fax 254-2-577327
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U.S., Sudanese rebels say optimistic about peace
WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met Sudanese rebel leader John Garang on Friday and the two sides said they were optimistic about the prospects for an end to a civil war now in its 19th year.
Garang, commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), told reporters:''There is a window of opportunity for the peace process in the Sudan to move forward.''
''Both the secretary and Mr. Garang noted the momentum that seems to be starting up in the process of resolving the issues in Sudan,'' added State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
But Garang added a note of caution, saying he did not trust the government in Khartoum to keep to agreements such as the one reached in Switzerland in January.
The latest agreement, mediated in part by U.S. envoy John Danforth, includes a cease-fire in the Nuba mountains of central Sudan and a ban on attacks on civilians.
The SPLA has been fighting the Khartoum government since 1983 to press its demand for greater autonomy for the African South from the mainly Arab and Muslim government in Khartoum.
''As somebody who has been struggling with this regime who has declared jihad on my people, I don't have any confidence in that regime. They have signed many agreements that they have dishonored before,'' Garang said.
The SPLA leader has not met a U.S. secretary of state at the State Department for years, although former Secretary Madeleine Albright did see him in Nairobi in 1999.
Powell told Garang that the United States was committed to finding a peaceful and just solution to the war, Boucher said.
''Mr. Garang thanked us for the assistance the United States has been giving, particularly in the area of education ... and said he needed further assistance, and we said we continue to support that area,'' he added.
Garang said: ''It is important for the U.S. to stay engaged, the U.S. has a major role to play in the peace process, both in the political negotiations and in the humanitarian field.''
PRESS RELEASE
SPLA IN FIRM CONTROL OF RAGA TOWN. August 30th 2001.
The Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLM/SPLA) categorically denies press reports that Khartoum Forces have retaken the strategic town of Raga in Western Bahr El Ghazal.
Reports reaching SPLM/SPLA headquarters indicate that there had been attempts by the Government of Sudan (GOS) forces to recapture Raga. On Thursday August 30th 2001, units of the Khartoum Junta, situated across River Boro north of Raga, crossed the River and attacked frontline SPLA forces outside the town at 1:30pm Sudan Local Time (SLT). The gallant SPLA forces engaged the marauding attackers and dispersed them in a fierce battle that lasted till evening.
The following day, Friday 31st, the enemy regrouped after being reinforced overnight with a convoy from Radom in Southern Darfur where the regime’s Defence Minister and the army Chief of Staff were organizing the so-called "retaking of Dar es Salaam" alias Raga. But these forces were again repulsed, pursued and their base was destroyed. The deputy commander of the GOS forces was killed in action.
The enemy force is now completely destroyed and the SPLA is in full control of Raga and its environs. It is to be noted that this latest fighting was timed to coincide with the IGAD Peace Talks which are resuming today under the Sudan Peace Secretariat. The GOS wanted to embarrass the Movement by capturing Raga in order to demoralize the SPLM/SPLA delegation during the talks. The GOS did this in 1992 during the Abuja - I talks by taking Kapoeta and in 1994 by attempting to capture Aswa and Nimule during the IGAD-1 talks.
Full details of the Raga fighting are still being awaited; but initial list of causalities include the following seven officers:
1. Colonel (PSC) Mohammed El Hassan Ali El Amam, Deputy commander of the GOS force,
2. Captain Ali Mohammed Augash,
3. Captain Gailab Allah Mohammed Hamid Zerook, commander of the Artillery Unit,
4. 1st Lt. Adam Osman,
5. 1st Lt. Mohammed El Mahdi;
6. 1st Lt. Salah Hassan Ahmed, Military Intelligence,
7. 2nd Lt. Salah Ageeb, Signal Unit.
The SPLM/SPLA takes this opportunity to warn the GOS that those who ordered the ill-fated attack on Raga are solely responsible for the loss of lives of the innocent Sudanese young men in an area that had already been liberated and pacified. This is also an opportunity to remind that those who beat the drums of war must be prepared to dance to its music.
Finally, the SPLM/SPLA Leadership once more congratulates Cdr. Pieng Deng Kuol, officers, NCOs and men of the 3rd Front, Western Sector, Bahr El Ghazal Region for successfully defending Raga and the population.
SIGNED:
Dr. Samson L. Kwaje
Commissioner for Information and
Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA
SPLM/ SPLA OFFICIAL POSITION ON THE JOINT EGYPTIAN- LIBYAN INITIATIVE (JELI) August 20th 2001.
There are reports in the international media giving different versions and interpretations of the position taken by the (SPLM/SPLA) in regards to the Joint Egyptian Libyan Initiative (JELI). The SPLM Leadership Council (LC) met on July, 24th - 31st, 2001 in Kapoeta County, New Sudan and passed the following Resolution on the JELI. It is cited as Resolution No. 2 on Political Matters and spells out the official position of the Movement on the JELI:
The SPLM shall support mediation efforts by any country to achieve a just and lasting peace in the Sudan. All parties to the conflict (The SPLM/SPLA, the Government of Sudan and the National Democratic Alliance) have accepted the IGAD Declaration of Principles (DOP). It is therefore necessary for any new peace initiative on Sudan to take the IGAD DOP into account.
The SPLM welcomes the Joint Egyptian-Libyan Initiative, and urges the countries of this initiative to incorporate into their initiative the four issues that were raised to them by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in its Cairo meeting of June, 2001. These issues that need to be incorporated into the JELI are:-
Separation of State and Religion.
The Right of self-determination.
An interim constitution and an interim government based on it.
Unification of mediation forums (JELI, IGAD, other initiatives).
The SPLM will not be a party to any type of negotiations with the GOS called by the Joint Egyptian Libyan Egyptian Initiative, or any other pace initiative, that does not incorporate the above four points reolved by the NDA in its last Leadership Council meeting in Cairo.
The so-called National Conference or National Gathering for reconciliation that is being called for by the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime and others is a non-starter and a distraction that could divide the country and complicate the peace process. The priority now is to reach a negotiated political settlement to end the war, not a National Conference that would end up as a talking shop that would solve nothing . Moreover, a political settlement to end the war can be reached only through negotiation between the warring parties, not through an amorphous national conference. When the war is ended, the SPLM/SPLA will support the convening of a National Constitutional Conference to draft a new constitution that will replace the Interim Constitution. This will of course depend on the outcome of the referendum on the right of self-determination- in Southern Sudan and other marginalised areas.
Finally, the Movement takes this opportunity to state that the SPLM/SPLA will continue to negotiate under the IGAD Peace Process. A Technical Committee Meeting (SPLM and GOS) has just concluded a session from August 13th-16th 2001 in Nairobi under the IGAD Secretariat on peace in the Sudan. The Technical Committee has developed modalities and a programme of work for the permanent negotiations as proposed in the June 2nd , 2000 Summit of the IGAD Heads of State Peace Committee on Sudan. The SPLM delegation to the Permanent Negotiating Committee has been named. This shows our firm commitment to the current IGAD mediation.
SIGNED.
Dr. Samson L. Kwaje
Commissioner for Information and
Official SPLM/ SPLA Spokesman.
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SPLA CAPTURES ONE STEAMER AND THREE MOTOR BOATS
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in Central Upper Nile (CUN) have effectively blocked river transport between Malakal and Juba.On Wednesday 15th August 2001, SPLA forces under the overall command of Commander Michael Tap captured a steamer and two motor boats belonging to El Salaam Petroleum Company. The steamer that was fitted with a barge and accompanied by the two motor boats was making reconnaissance trips on the Bhar el Jebel river between Lake No and Pan Zeraf. It was carrying oil workers, government regular troops and local militias. The Government of Sudan (GOS) was therefore using the steamer of the El-Salaam Petroleum Company for military missions.
On the following day Thursday 16, August 2001, a third motor boat was dispatched to look for the steamer and the two motor boats. The assumption from the GOS and El- Salaam Petroleum Company was that the steamer and the motor boats might have lost their route because the SPLA did not announce their capture. The third boat was captured as well by the SPLA forces. The SPLA is now holding the steamer and the three motor boats. A number of oil workers, government soldiers and their allies are also being held as prisoners of war (POW). For obvious security reasons, the number and the identity of the POWs will not be released at this moment. It is important to mention here that the steamer and the three motor boats were ferrying GOS soldiers and their allied militias to protect oil installations and fight the SPLA. They are therefore legitimate military targets.
The SPLM/SPLA is now in full control of significant portion of the River Nile and therefore making the eastern area of Unity State (Bentiu county) non operational. This portion cannot now be used and is closed to all traffic whether oil companies, fishing companies or GOS security. This is in addition to pressure being mounted by SPLA forces of WUN command that are now active in the Heglig, Wangkai and Mayom areas.
All these pressures and operations fall within the Movements’ resolve to stop oil exploration, production and export from the country until the war in the Sudan is stopped and a just and lasting peace is achieved.
Dr. Samson L. Kwaje
Commissioner for Information and
Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA
SPLA DESTROYS AN ENEMY CONVOY IN WESTERN UPPER NILE.
In continuation of our efforts to shut down oil exploration and exploitation, Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA) forces in Panaru, Western Upper Nile (WUN) have attacked and destroyed a huge enemy convoy at the oil concession area.
On August 9th 2001, SPLA forces of the 20th Independent Brigade at Panaru pre- emptied and attacked an enemy convoy code named Al-Agiid el Shahid Shamsadin. The attacking SPLA forces that were under the overall command of Cdr. George Athor Deng were drawn from elements consisting of battalions No. 196, 197 and 198 of the 20th Independent Command in WUN. The enemy convoy that was a size of a battalion was completely destroyed with 42 soldiers killed. Their bodies were left in the battlefield. The rest of the enemy soldiers dispersed carrying along wounded colleagues. A big quantity of heavy and light equipment were captured.
Meanwhile details of the August 5th attack on headquarters of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) at Heglig have been received. The raid that lasted two hours was successful and caused great damage. Of the 15 Grad-P rockets fired by SPLA forces, 12 hit their targets. One rocket hit the Heglig airstrip destroying a helicopter. The main electric power station was hit and is severly damaged. Since 5th of August there has not been electricity in the whole of the oil fields including Bentiu town.
Five installations were destroyed including, one big oil fuel reservoir of 60 metre-diameter and four smaller reservoirs. Reliable sources, however, confirm that foreign oil workers were evacuated one day in advance. The enemy appeared to have detected the presence of the mission in the area.
The National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Khartoum took advantage of earlier lack of details (as we wanted our forces to return safely to base) to try to play down the operation so as not to scare away oil companies. As for the connivance of Talisman in playing down the operation, Jim Buckee wants to sell its worthless 25% shares in GNPOC to unsuspecting investors. In this regard, the Movement again cautions any potential buyer of these shares to think twice as the SPLA is sure to shut down all oil works in the war zone.
Finally, the Leadership of the SPLM/SPLA sends congratulations to Cdr. George Athor Deng, officers, NCO’s and men of the 20th Independent Command for the successful operation at Panaru. The Movement again congratulates Peter Gadet and his entire command for the successful raid on Heglig.
SIGNED:
Dr. Samson L. Kwaje
Commissioner for Information and
Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA
SPLA SCORES VICTORIES IN THE NUBA MOUNTAINS August 8th 2001.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forces of the 4th Front have scored magnificent victories over the enemy in the last ten (10) days in Southern Kordofan.
On 8th August, 2001 SPLA gallant forces of the 27th Brigade under the command of Captain Jagood Makwar attacked and captured the enemy garrison of Barkandi. The Barkandi garrison which fell to the SPLA forces after three (3) hours of intensive fighting is situated in Dalany county. The garrison was being defended by Government of Sudan (GOS) elements of battalion 199 of the 90th Brigade.
The enemy suffered heavy casualties in men and material. The whole enemy force was dispersed and fled in disarray leaving behind nine (9) dead bodies. The officer-in-charge of the Barkandi garrison Lt. Mohammed Ali Abdalla was captured and taken prisoner of war (POW). The following equipment were captured in good condition.
1. 82mm mortar, 1 piece with 25 shells
2. 60mm mortar, 1 piece with 15 shells
3. PK machine gun, 1 piece with 26 boxes of ammunition
4. RPG-7guns, 2 pieces
5. G.3 rifles, 10 pieces with several boxes of ammunition.
On 16th August 2001, SPLA forces of the 26th Brigade under the command of Captain Hamza Jamiri attacked and captured the enemy garrison of Dari. The enemy also suffered heavy casualties in men and material. Thirteen (13) enemy soldiers were killed and their bodies left in the battlefield. The following equipment were captured in good condition:-
1. 82mm mortar one piece - No. 171084
2. 60mm mortar one piece - No. 190246
3. RPG 7 Gun one piece - No. 222639
4. Garnov machine gun one piece - No. 228
5. PKM machine gun two pieces - Nos. 1200810 and 3208
6. Many pieces of G-3 rifles and AK 47 rifles
The fighting at Dari was brief and decisive and contradicts the statement carried by AFP on August 19th and attributed to the spokesman of the National Islamic Front (NIF) army general Mohammed Beshir Suleman. General Suleman had told lies to the effect that their forces had killed 15 SPLA soldiers at Dari. This is not true. No SPLA soldiers were killed. Only 4 combatants sustained minor injuries. The gallant SPLA soldiers of the 26th Brigade have now withdrawn from Dari 34 hours after the completion of their mission.
The SPLM/SPLA Leadership congratulates the Regional Secretary of Southern Kordofan Cdr. Abdel Aziz Adam Al Hilu, officers, NCOs and men of the 4th Front in general and the gallant forces of the 26th and 27th Brigades in particular. The enemy campaign in the Nuba Mountains will soon collapse completely.
SIGNED:
Dr. Samson L. Kwaje
Commissioner for Information and
Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA
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PRESS RELEASE.
PUMPING OF OIL STOPS.
The Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLM/SPLA) hereby confirm that flow of oil has stopped at Heglig (Wunthow). Reports from SPLA Commando unit in the area has confirmed that since last Sundays attack, where extensive damage was inflicted on the main oil facility, the production and flow of the oil has come to a complete halt. The main central pumping station and fuel stores have been completely destroyed.
It was a very successful operation carried out by a special elite unit of the SPLA. It was not therefore "a failed attempt by a small militia group" as claimed by the spokesman of the Khartoum regime and consequently parroted by Talismans own spokesperson in Calgary. The fact that Talisman has withdrawn its key employees last Monday from Heglig and other associated locations in the so called unity state underscores the importance of the SPLA operations and the magnitude of the damage caused. It is also in the same vein that today Talisman is offering to sell all of its 25% shares at the Great Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) to any buyer. This panic by Talisman shows the gravity of the situation.
In this regard the SPLM/SPLA would like to caution any potential buyer that these shares are practically worthless. This is because the SPLA will shut down all oil works in the area very soon. This is a demand that the Sudanese people have requested the Movement to do and the SPLA has obliged.
Finally, the SPLM/SPLA again takes this opportunity to warn international oil companies and other investors not to invest in Southern Sudan and other marginalized areas while the war is still on. By doing so they shall be legitimate military targets. The SPLA has the capability to strike at these targets at any time as it has demonstrated last Sunday at Heglig, Wankai and Bentiu. This warning is no longer a bluff as Talisman and others used to term it.
SIGNED:
Dr. Samson L. Kwaje
Commissioner for Information and
Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA
PRESS RELEASE.
SPLA DESTROYS OIL INSTALLATIONS
On Sunday 5th August 2001, the Sudan People's Liberation Army SPLA) forces of the Western Upper Nile (WUN) Command and special elements from the SPLA General Headquarters attacked and destroyed the main oil installation at Heglig. The town of Heglig is the main nerve center of the Greater Nile Petroleum Company (GNPC). The GNPC is a consortium of four oil companies.
These are Talisman Energy of Canada (25%),Petronas of Malaysia (30%),China National Petroleum Corporation (40%) and the state owned Sudapet Limited (5%). The raid which took place at 6.00am SLT was very successful as the flow of oil has now been disrupted. The main oil installation building including offices and stores has been badly damaged. However, more details including casualties will follow.
While the attack at Heglig was in progress, SPLA forces in the area simultaneously raided Wangkai government military garrison as well as Bentiu town. In both attacks Government of Sudan (GOS) suffered heavy losses in men and material. The Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army and the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLA/SPLM) Leadership congratulates Commander Peter Gadet, officers, NCOs and men of WUN command as well as Commander Bior Ajang of SPLA Headquarters and all the units under him who took part in the execution of these successful operations.
The attack on Heglig is only the start of the Movements' effort to stop exploration, development and export of oil until a final political settlement of the Sudan conflict is reached. These operations will continue until this objective is achieved. Finally, the Movement once again takes this opportunity to reiterate its earlier warning to oil companies that their investments whether in form of installation or otherwise, remain legitimate military target should they remain in the area. Although the Movement does not target oil personnel, we call upon the oil companies to heed the voice of prudence and seriously consider evacuation as these companies will be solely responsible for any collateral damage.
Dr. Samson L. Kwaje
Commissioner for Information and
Official Spokesman SPLM/SPLA
News Releases - July - September 2001
August 10, 2001
Talisman May Reduce Acceptance Condition In Its Offer For Lundin Oil CALGARY, Alberta -August 10, 2001 - Talisman Energy AB ("Talisman AB"), a wholly-owned Swedish subsidiary of Talisman Energy Inc., has commenced a public offer (the "Offer") for the purchase of the Class A and Class B shares of Lundin Oil AB (publ) ("Lundin Oil"), the Global Depositary Shares representing Class B shares of Lundin Oil and certain warrants issued by Lundin Oil. Talisman AB announced today that it may reduce the number of Class A shares, Class B shares and warrants which must be tendered to satisfy the acceptance condition of its tender offer from more than 90 percent of the total number of shares in Lundin Oil, on a fully diluted
basis, representing more than 90 percent of the total number of votes in Lundin Oil, on a fully diluted basis, to more than 88 percent of the total number of shares in Lundin Oil, on a fully diluted basis, representing more than 88 percent of the total number of votes in Lundin Oil, on a fully diluted basis. If Talisman AB determines to reduce the minimum acceptance
condition, it may do so no earlier than August 17, 2001. Although the reduction is possible on that date, Talisman AB need not declare its actual intentions until it is required to do so under the laws of Sweden.
A reduction in, and satisfaction of, the percentage requirement, once all other conditions to the offer have been fulfilled, satisfied or waived, could result in the offer being declared unconditional. Withdrawal rights will terminate following the expiration date of the initial offer period, which may be extended by Talisman AB. If Talisman AB reduces the percentage
requirement for the acceptance condition, Talisman AB will hold the offer open for at least five business days following the reduction of the condition, however, withdrawal rights may not be available during this period.
Holders of Lundin Oil securities who would not wish to tender into the Offer if there is a reduction in the acceptance condition to more than 88 percent should either not accept the Offer or withdraw their acceptances immediately.
Following the acquisition by Talisman AB of more than 90 percent of the voting rights and the outstanding Class A, Class B and Class C shares on a fully diluted basis, Talisman AB intends to commence a compulsory acquisition of the remaining Class A and Class B shares under the Swedish Companies Act. In the compulsory acquisition, holders who did not tender
into the Offer will receive no less than the Offer price, but it may take considerable time to complete the compulsory acquisition and pay the remaining holders.
The initial offer period is scheduled to expire at 3:00 p.m. Stockholm time (9:00 a.m. New York City time) on Friday, August 17, 2001. The Offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, in or into, Canada, Australia or Japan or in any other jurisdiction in which the offer is or would be unlawful under the laws of that jurisdiction.
Talisman Energy Inc. is the largest independent Canadian oil and gas producer with operations in Canada, the North Sea, Indonesia and Sudan. Talisman is also conducting exploration in the United States, Algeria, Trinidad and Colombia. Talisman has adopted the International Code of Ethics for Canadian Business and is committed to maintaining high standards of excellence in corporate citizenship and social responsibility wherever it does business. Talisman's shares are listed on The Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and the New York Stock Exchange in the United States under the symbol TLM.
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