SUDAN: Talks with Juba halted after the South occupied an oilfield vital to the north's economy

Record ID: 344170

  • Title: SUDAN: Talks with Juba halted after the South occupied an oilfield vital to the north's economy
  • Date: 12th April 2012
  • Summary: HEGLIG, SUDAN (FILE - 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WORKERS AND INSTALLATIONS AT HIGLIG OILFIELD VARIOUS OF BURNT OUT VEHICLES SUDANESE SOLDIER
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sudan, Sudan
  • Country: Sudan
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAA9QKD94SFJ5Z03I9FV6YDG16Z
  • Story Text: Sudan said it would mobilise its army against South Sudan on Wednesday (April 11), and halted talks with Juba after the South occupied an oilfield vital to the north's economy.
    With South Sudan in turn accusing Sudan of bombing a village on the southern side of their 1,800-km (1,200-mile) border, the African Union called for an end to clashes that threaten to spark a full-blown conflict between the former civil war foes.
    South Sudan, which seceded in July, has been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with the north over oil payments and other vital issues, as fighting has escalated in the countries' ill-defined border region.
    South Sudan's army (SPLA) on Tuesday (April 10) attacked Heglig, a disputed area containing an oilfield that accounts for about half of Sudan's 115,000 barrel-a-day output. The South's army claimed to hold the area on Wednesday.
    A Sudanese official said he expected the fighting would hit oil output.
    "I expect that since there is a war, these oil fields will be affected, definitely, and at least there will not be production. If there is a conflict in the area, this is the least," said Rahamatalla Mohamed Osman, Sudan's undersecretary of foreign affairs.
    Although the South voted to secede in a referendum over a year ago, the two sides have not yet agreed on issues including division of national debt, the status of citizens in one another's territory and the exact position of the border.
    Oil is among the most sensitive issues. Landlocked South Sudan shut down its roughly 350,000 barrel-per-day output in January in a dispute over how much it should pay to export crude using pipelines and other infrastructure in Sudan.
    The two frequently accuse one another of backing rebels in their territory.
    "I don't think there can be negotiations in this climate," Osman said when asked if Sudan would halt talks.
    Khartoum said South Sudan's armed forces were in control of Heglig town and oil wells on Tuesday night, but it was not clear who was in control on Wednesday.
    Following the incursion, parliament ordered a halt to negotiations with the south aimed at resolving disputes, Sudan's state media said.
    State news agency SUNA said Sudan would order a general army mobilisation but gave no further details.
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