Misseriya distrust Sudan’s radiation leakage probe

The Misseriya in West Kordofan demand an international investigation into the effects of radiation leakage in Dibab and El Fula localities. Mohamed Khater Juma, Chairman of the General Federation of the Misseriya, said at a press conference in Khartoum on Sunday that they will not recognise the results of any local tests and investigations. Juma warned that the effects of radiation on the population of West Kordofan may appear after years, “when it is too late”.    He sharply criticised the director of the Chinese National Petroleum Company, holding him responsible for the radiation leakage, and demanded the prosecution of the company and the sequestration of its assets. The Chairman of the Misseriya Federation denounced the “misleading utterances” of Sudanese officials in defence of the Chinese company, calling them “a provocation and an insult to their countrymen”. Juma said that the Federation will also hand a memorandum to the Presidency containing “all the negative effects on pastures and farmlands, resulting from oil extracting activities”. During the weekend of 6-9 June, a number of workers of the Chinese National Petroleum Company working at the oil field of Beleila in West Kordofan were directly exposed to radiation. An engineer reportedly left a radio-active device used in oil exploration inside a workshop without properly securing it at its underground location. The company immediately transferred the workers, among them Chinese and Pakistani, to Khartoum for medical tests. File photo: A soldier stands guard near the pump station of an oil field in Sudan (PressTV) Related: Oil workers exposed to radiation in Sudan’s West Kordofan (16 June 2014)