CAIRO: Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), a joint venture between China, India, and Malaysia, has confirmed that the Sudanese Air Force (SAF) has bombed oil fields on the disputed border with South Sudan. The bombing was after intense fighting Monday between SAF and South Sudan's army, known as the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), around the oil-rich town of Heglig. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir announced the SPLA's seizure of Heglig and claimed that the military escalation was provoked by SAF which, Kiir said, is part of an organized and ongoing campaign in the area by the Sudan. SPLA forces are currently “defending the country against SAF's aggression,” was Kiir's analysis. The confrontation raises the possibility of Khartoum and Juba returning to full-blown war. The clashes have also led to the cancellation of Bashir's planned summit with Kiir in Juba on 3 April. It would've been Bashir's first visit to the world's newest nation, after decades of brutal civil war. War between the two ethnically and religiously divided people, has raged off and on since the 1950s, when the Sudan gained independence from colonial rule. Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court – on charges that include genocide for his response to the Darfur uprising – is losing support at home in Khartoum, due to his unpopular domestic policy, rising food prices, and a significant loss of revenue since the oil fields mostly went to South Sudan after secession. Khartoum is looking at increased international isolation for recent and ongoing policy decisions, and isolation is not advantageous to Bashir's political survival. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/vXfgL Tags: Bashir, Bombs, Kiir, Oil Fields, Sudan Section: Latest News, Sudan
