By Christina Lamb, Diplomatic Correspondent TENS of thousands of Chinese troops and prisoners forced to work as security guards have been moved into Sudan. They have been sent in preparation for a big offensive against southern rebels to try to bring to an end one of Africa's longest-running conflicts, according to Western counter-terrorism officials.The Chinese have been brought in by aircraft and ship, ostensibly to guard Sudan's increasingly productive oilfields in which the China National Petroleum Corporation is a leading partner. Col Johnny Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has managed in recent weeks to advance within 10 miles of the oilfields in the Upper Nile region, causing the country's Islamic regime to activate emergency plans drawn up with allies whose interests in the oil project are directly under threat. These plans aim to crush the rebels from the mainly Christian and animist south and bring to an end the 17-year civil war that has cost an estimated two million lives. Since oil production began last year arms have been arriving from Libya, Qatar and China. The ruling National Islamic Front (NIF) is spending £300 million a year of its oil revenues on weapons, according to western intelligence sources. The NIF denies this charge but last month Gen Mohamed Osman Yassin, the Sudanese army spokesman, told student conscripts that "thanks to our growing oil industry" Sudan is now "manufacturing ammunition, mortars, tanks and armoured personnel carriers". The SPLA captured a group of Chinese in an attack last week. An internal document from the Sudanese military said that as many as 700,000 Chinese security personnel were available for action. Three flights a week have been taking the Chinese into Sudan since work on the oilfields started three years ago. Diplomats in Khartoum, however, cast doubt on the numbers. Baroness Caroline Cox, the leading human rights campaigner who has just returned from Sudan where she helped to free 353 slaves captured by NIF soldiers, yesterday accused western governments of turning a blind eye to what is going on because of their own economic interests in the oil. She warned: "If with foreign help the NIF regime crushes all opposition we will have entrenched in the heart of Africa a militant Islamist regime aimed at spreading terrorism throughout the continent. It's unbelievably serious for the future of democracy in Africa and could happen in the next few weeks." She was particularly critical of the British Government. Last month it welcomed the Sudanese foreign minister on a visit even although Sudan is still technically under United Nations sanctions that ban such visits, and officially is still regarded as a pariah state. She said: "The British Government has developed a complete cosy relationship to a regime which is raping, bombing and taking its people into slavery. It doesn't fit at all with our so-called ethical foreign policy, and there is no question the shift has come because of the oil." Two British companies have won contracts to build pumping stations on the 1,000-mile pipeline from the Heglig oilfield, in the war-torn south, to the Red Sea. British oil companies have also discussed investing in the Sudanese oil industry, described in a Department of Trade and Industry pamphlet this year as "a tremendous opportunity". The Canadian multi-national Talisman Energy, the main backer of the pipeline with the Chinese and Malaysians national oil companies, has faced public outcry over its involvement. Reports that thousands of civilians have been killed and driven from their homes in order to secure the oilfields have led North American consumers to boycott petrol stations, and pension funds to sell shares. There has been so much criticism that America imposed economic sanctions on Sudan's oil enterprise. The mission was told that Talisman's contractual obligation more or less provides that the oilfield facilities can be used for military purposes. A UN rapporteur told the mission: "If oil companies don't know what's going on they're not looking over the fences of their compounds." As fighting has escalated in recent months, the NIF has stepped up attacks on civilian targets. Yesterday Washington condemned the raids on civilian and relief targets including schools, hospitals and feeding stations. According to the SPLA, five such attacks took place last week, making it impossible for agencies to deliver aid. A Western aid worker in southern Sudan said: "Everyone knows what is going on. We've all seen the Chinese being brought in and can only pray about what's going to happen next."
