WIRE:05/01/2000 15:25:00 ET Sudan oil pipeline blown up, exports OK - state TV

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) - The pipeline which carries Sudan's crude oil to Port Bashair on the Red Sea was blown up early Monday but exports will not be delayed, state television reported. "In the early hours of this morning, the oil export pipeline was subjected to a limited act of sabotage," the television quoted Hassan al-Tom, the secretary general of the Ministry of Energy and Mining as saying.

Tom said the pipeline was damaged by an explosion in an area 20 miles north of Sinkat, which is some 345 miles northeast of Khartoum.

According to Tom, the explosion did not cause a fire, and repair work began at once on the 1,000-mile pipeline.

Pumping was stopped but would resume Tuesday, after the repair work, he said.

"Export operations were not affected because a lot of oil is stored in reserve at Port Bashair," Tom said.

The television said leaflets found at the site indicated the sabotage was carried out by the Beja congress, which is part of the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The television showed the minister of interior, Maj. Gen. Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein, at the site, where excavators and other heavy equipment were repairing the damage. A large pool of oil was shown.

This is the third time the pipeline has been blown up since exports started last August.

In September, the pipeline was destroyed in an attack near Atbara, 200 miles northeast of Khartoum. On Jan. 16, the pipeline was damaged 20 miles south of Sinkat. The Sinkat blast was also blamed on the Beja congress, while the earlier one was laid at the doors of the NDA.

Sudan previously spent about $360 million a year on oil imports, swallowing almost all its export earnings. It looks to the oil to reverse economic decline.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000501_1955.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 01, 2000