SUDAN / SOUTH SUDAN: Sudan and South Sudan continue to trade accusations over oil revenues

Record ID: 344145

  • Title: SUDAN / SOUTH SUDAN: Sudan and South Sudan continue to trade accusations over oil revenues
  • Date: 19th January 2012
  • Summary: KHARTOUM, SUDAN (JANUARY 18, 2012) (REUTERS) SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING. SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTER, ALI KARTI SITTING AND TALKING TO JOURNALISTS REPORTER WRITING IN HIS PAD. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUDANESE FOREIGN MINISTER, ALI KARTI SAYING: "And calling us, you know, taking their oil, or 'stealing' their oil - this is childish. This is childish. We are a sovereign country, this is our right. If this does not fit them, let them block the oil. It is their oil. We will not at all fight for the oil to come through our pipeline."
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sudan, South Sudan
  • City:
  • Country: South Sudan Sudan
  • Topics: International Relations,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADRREJC1ML4M95EPRDKOHKV0XE
  • Story Text: Sudan will continue to take a share of oil from South Sudan to compensate for what it calls unpaid transit fees and said an oil deal was unlikely without an agreement on border and security issues, its foreign minister said on Wednesday (January 18).
    South Sudan became Africa's newest nation in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between north and south, but many issues remain unresolved, including oil, debt and violence on both sides of the poorly-defined border.
    The African Union is sponsoring talks between the two countries this week, but Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti dampened hopes of a quick deal, rejecting the south's criticism of its move as "childish."
    "And calling us, you know, taking their oil, or 'stealing' their oil - this is childish. This is childish. We are a sovereign country, this is our right. If this does not fit them, let them block the oil. It is their oil. We will not at all fight for the oil to come through our pipeline," Karti told Reuters in an interview.
    Tensions escalated last week when Khartoum said it had started confiscating oil from landlocked South Sudan, which exports its crude through Sudan's pipelines to a port on the Red Sea.
    Sudan's economy has been badly hit by the loss of two-thirds of oil production to the South, and the country is under pressure to ease the hardships of people already exhausted by years of conflict, inflation and a U.S. trade embargo in place since 1997 for the country's role in hosting prominent militants like Osama bin Laden.
    Sudan and South Sudan have been discussing a transit fee for southern oil exports since Juba's independence, but their positions have remained wide apart. Khartoum wants 1 billion US dollars in rear payments plus 36 US dollars a barrel to use the export pipeline, roughly a third of the South's export value.
    South Sudan has offered to sell oil to Khartoum at discounted prices and give financial aid, but Karti said some southern officials were taking a "sarcastic" approach.
    Karti said South Sudan's support for rebels in the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile was hindering the talks. Juba denies giving support to the insurgents, who fought as part of the southern army during the civil war.
    "If you are hosting rebels, preparing them against me, supporting them by militias, by salaries, by everything by training, by giving them, you know, all facilities; what shall I wait for you... what shall I wait for you to do? I'm waiting for war; so if you are preparing to instigate war against me, what kind of any other agreement be useful," Karti said.
    He said Sudan had monitored conversations that proved Juba was supporting the rebels - known as the Sudan People's Liberation Movement Army (SPLA-N) - by continuing to pay their old salaries.
    Any oil agreement would likely depend on a broader deal that addressed the fighting and other security issues, such as marking the border, Karti said.
    Speaking ahead of new talks with Sudan in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, South Sudan's chief negotiator, Pagan Amum said Sudan had taken control of 2.15 million barrels of southern oil at Port Sudan, loading oil onto vessels belonging to Khartoum as both countries argue over how to share oil revenues.
    "This is an act of state piracy on transit goods and it is a grave violation of international law committed during what is supposed to be peace time between our two countries," said Amum. "This is not only theft it is robbery because it is clearly and apparently is with the use of force," he added.
    The new talks started on Tuesday sponsored by the African Union in Ethiopia. Previous rounds have ended with the parties wide apart.
    Amum said on Sunday oil companies had sent a letter to Khartoum verifying that South Sudan has paid for the use of oil infrastructure in Sudan since July and accused Khartoum of "stealing" its oil exports.
    "The African Union High Level Implementation Panel and the International Community however, should take note that the South generosity and patience is close to reaching their expiration period," Amum told journalists.
    South Sudan pumps around 350,000 bpd, officials have said. Sudan produces 115,000 bpd in its remaining fields but needs it for domestic consumption.
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