Posts by southsudannews

June 23, 2010 (UPI) — Sudan’s government is reported to be exploring for oil in the war-torn Darfur region, which, if successful, could halt a threatened renewal of one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars.

The secessionist south is expected to vote for independence in a 2011 referendum, part of a 2005 peace agreement that ended 21 years of war in which an estimated 2 million people have died.

But since most of Sudan’s oil fields are in the south, the Arab regime in the north cannot afford to let it do so — unless Khartoum finds its own oil.

The Paris Web site Africa Energy Intelligence reported this month that the government was concentrating on two key zones in the northern areas it controls — Darfur in the west and the Red Sea zone in the east.

Images from the Quickbird Satellite indicate that no strikes have been made, the Web site reported. But it said the eastern drive is headed by the Red Sea Operating Cop., a consortium grouping the state-owned Sudapet, the China National Petroleum Corp., Petronas of Malaysia, Express of Nigeria and two Sudanese firms.

Global Witness, the international watchdog group, reported that images from the Landsat satellite showed a grid pattern of seismic activity by oil companies stretching 315 miles across Darfur’s desert in the northwest near the Libyan border that began in September 2009.

Other images showed oil exploration camps and large storage depots, the non-governmental organization reported.

Several firms have oil concessions in Darfur, Global Witness said. These include the Great Sahara Petroleum operating Co., a consortium of Saudi Arabian, Yemeni, Sudanese and Jordanian firms.

Government officials said in January that Khartoum wants oil companies to develop a new oilfield in southern Darfur and is planning to offer the zone to investors.

"Were oil to be discovered, it could actually prod the conflicting parties to come to some kind of agreement so that there would then be a basis for exploiting it, and, we would argue, necessarily sharing it in an equitable way," said Global Witness official Mike Davis.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 that ended 21 years of war between the Muslim Arab-dominated north and south, whose population is largely Christian or animist, is generally seen as a "precedent … for sharing oil as a basis for making peace."

The 2005 pact gave the south a measure of autonomy until the future of the country is determined in the referendum set for January.

But Khartoum cannot afford to relinquish the south because that will mean being cut off from the region’s oil fields. Khartoum depends on the revenue the region produces.

The south, too, is active on the oil front — trying to find an alternative route to get its oil to market since the only pipeline there runs northward to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

One option that has gained some traction is a new pipeline southward through Uganda to Kenya’s Indian Ocean ports of Lamu or Mombasa.

The Japanese, the second biggest buyer of Sudan’s oil after China, has offered to build such a pipeline for $1.5 billion.

Under the 2005 agreement, the ruling National Congress Party in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement agreed that if a majority vote for independence in the referendum, the south will secede so long as at least two-thirds of the registered electorate participates in the poll.

President Omar Beshir, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, warned earlier this month of an "explosive situation" if the south, as expected, chooses independence.

The rivalry between north and south has been heating up in recent weeks, with violent clashes reported along the border zones. There have been reports of government troops seeking to take control of some oil wells.

Sudan has oil reserves estimated at the equivalent of 5 billion barrels. It produces around 500,000 barrels per day, of which 400,000 bpd is exported.

Darfur, an arid desert region in western Sudan, has been devastated since 2003 by a civil war, separate from the north-south conflict.

This one is between the government and Darfur tribes who claim Khartoum has neglected the region and is conducting a war of attrition against then.

By Daniel Abushery Daniel

“Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over, if you just sit there” Will Rogers

June 21, 2010 (SSNA) — Many speculations and rumours are being circulated around the globe about whether or not South Sudan has the essential capability to rule and care for themselves, if in fact South does become an independent state from the "Jallaba" dominated old Sudan.

That shameful propaganda about South Sudanese being unable to rule themselves because of the spread of illiteracy, corruption, and tribalism among others, is racist at best. Because if given an equal opportunity, Southerners have the best administrators in the whole of Sudan even by the admission of some honest Northern Sudanese. For instance, during the ten-year tenure of the Addis Ababa agreement, South Sudan was actually more stable than the North in terms of democracy and peaceful transfer of powers, that Al Nimeri was so jealous, that he had to dissolve the regional government, in order to undermined the unity of South Sudanese.

Indeed tribes and tribalism are alive and well in all parts of Northern Sudan, especially in the Northern state (al Shamalia), West and East Sudan. So, to suggest that somehow South is the only exception is, truly unfounded and misguided to say the least. In addition, much of the tribal conflicts in the South are fuelled by the North, to convince the rest of the world that we can’t possibly run a government, if we are unable to control some ill-equipped tribes.

This song or music is nothing more than a psychological warfare to further wound our dignity and indeed our unity, because there are some folks in South Sudan who have actually bought into this smear campaign that, in fact we cannot manage our affairs without the help from the Jallaba. This song is not new. It’s is a very old one dating back since the 50s, and it continues patting it to the present generation. We cannot allow it to continue any longer.

The real question: How could South Sudanese be expected to achieve miracles in a five- years period of time, and just coming off a two decade long civil war? To plan for projects alone takes at least a couple of years if not more. Then, to put that plan in execution will need even more time than the planning time. So, by far, the GOSS has done far beyond expectations of fair-minded people everywhere.

Further more, after Addis Ababa accord, which granted South Sudan autonomy government, ( small government), and to the best of my knowledge, I have never experienced the presence of any Arabs or Northerners carrying out training or managing any institution over the course of the ten years tenure of peace time. Yet, with little or no educated people at the time, South managed to run a relatively smooth government, even in the face of the sabotage from Numeri’s regime.