* Long road lined with corpses in military uniform
* President Bashir addresses cheering soldiers
* Heavy damage to caused to region’s oil facilities
By El-Tayeb Siddig
HEGLIG, Sudan, April 23 (Reuters) – Sudanese soldiers
cheered, hoisted rifles in the air and showed off a battered
South Sudanese tank and dozens of corpses in the Heglig border
region on Monday, leaving no doubt who was in control of the
hotly disputed oil area.
Heglig was at the centre of the worst violence between Sudan
and South Sudan since they split into two countries under a 2005
peace deal that ended decades of civil war. The fighting raised
fears the neighbours could slide back into a full-blown
conflict.
South Sudan seized the region – which many southerners call
Panthou – earlier this month, before withdrawing last week under
heavy international pressure and, according to Khartoum, a
thrashing at the hands of the Sudanese army.
“Thank God, we have cleansed the country, cleansed it from
the filth of traitors,” Sudanese soldier Hafiz Ahmed said. “We
swore an oath between us, God and the nation that we would not
abandon one inch of this country.”
The loss of the economically vital region was a major shock
to many Sudanese, and news it was back under the control of
Sudan’s army set off widespread celebrations in Khartoum.
The excitement was on clear display among hundreds of
soldiers during a government organised tour of Heglig on Monday.
Excited soldiers climbed on top of a tank marked with the
name of the South’s army, the SPLA, and a picture of the South
Sudanese flag, yelling: “We took it, it’s ours!”
“We crushed them, we kicked them out,” one soldier shouted.
Authorities did not allow foreign journalists to join the
tour to Heglig operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating
Company consortium, led by China’s CNPC, together with
Malaysia’s Petronas and India’s ONGC Videsh.
General Kamal Abdul Maarouf, a Sudanese army commander, said
1,200 South Sudanese soldiers died during the fighting, although
South Sudan rejected the number.
A Reuters journalist saw corpses, some with bullet wounds,
in military fatigues lining a long road. Many uniforms were
clearly marked with the South Sudanese flag. The smell of bodies
filled the air.
So confident was the government in its grip on Heglig,
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir was flown in to address hundreds
of cheering soldiers waving Kalashnikov rifles in the air.
Dressed in military uniform, the burly leader descended from
his plane to shouts of “Allahu akbar,” and vowed not to
negotiate with South Sudan, saying their leaders only understood
“the language of the gun”.
Heglig produced about half of the 115,000 barrel-a-day
output that remained to Sudan after the South seceded, and both
sides have accused one another of damaging its infrastructure.
Bombed-out pipelines dripped oil onto the dry earth, and
other infrastructure including the central processing facility
and power plant was charred and clearly damaged.
Abdelazeem Hassan Abdallah, an oil worker in Heglig, said
the field could start pumping oil again within two weeks, but he
added that the damage was serious. “They know how to do the job
completely,” he said, referring to the SPLA.
Military tensions continued to mount on Monday after South
Sudan accused Sudan of bombing a market in Bentiu, the capital
of its oil-producing Unity state, calling the attack a
declaration of war. Sudan’s army denied carrying out any air
raids.
(Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
