The Sudanese government and rebels accused each other of blowing up a pipeline last night in a disputed region bordering South Sudan. The explosion took place in the Ragaba area within the Abyei territory at around 10:30 p.m, and the resulting fire raged for hours.

Shadia Arabi, spokeswoman in the Ministry of Petroleum, confirmed that a pipeline was cut somewhere between Diffra and Heglig. This stretch is not the main north-south line but rather a tie-in line running east-west.

The damaged pipeline is operated by Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, which is owned by a consortium of Chinese, Malaysian, Indian and Sudanese companies.

Petroleum Minister Awad al-Jazz likewise confirmed the attack in remarks to the private television station al-Shorouq. He downplayed the event, however, saying the impact would be limited.

The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) was blamed for the explosion by army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khaled, according to remarks carried by state media on Thursday night. He said the saboteurs came from Unity State in South Sudan.

Al-Sawarmi alleged that the rebels received ‘technical support’ from SPLA, the army of South Sudan, in order to carry out the attack. He identified the location of the blast as Ajaja in northern Abyei.

JEM spokesman Jibreel Bilal, however, sharply denied this accusation. He denied any link between his movement and the government of South Sudan and he added that there were no JEM forces present in the Abyei Area.

He suggested that the political situation has been embarrassing for President Omar al-Bashir since he ordered the shut-down of oil exports from South Sudan last Sunday, and that the president found himself in a critical position owing to international and domestic criticism of his decision.  

Bilal elaborated that the government needed to find a way to escape from this political situation, insinuating that the government itself set off the explosion in order to distract from this embarassment. 

The rebel spokesman noted, however, that they considered the oil fields legitimate targets because government petroleum revenues were being used for military purposes to kill citizens in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. 

Earlier today the close aide to the president and deputy chairman of the ruling party Nafie Ali Nafie addressed the Khartoum State Parliament announcing that a rebel coalition planned to attack the capital from two directions. He claimed the rebels were assembling their forces in the Abu Karshola area of South Kordofan.

The senior official said that the rebels are planning to seize two or three big cities, naming these as Kadugli, El-Obeid, and El Fashir, but he ruled out the latter owing to the weak presence of the insurgency there.

Nafie acknowledged that the rebels are dreaming of a scenario like what happened in Egypt or Libya, and reiterated that the rebels are receiving material support and moral encouragement from South Sudan and ‘overseas.’

Reporting by Radio Tamazuj and Radio Dabanga