Southern Sudanese Official Says China Seeks Better Ties to Protect Assets
China is “frightened” of what might happen if Southern Sudan secedes and must strengthen its ties with the region’s leaders to protect its oil assets, said a Southern Sudan official.
Oil-rich Southern Sudan, which gained semi-autonomy in a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war in which 2 million people died, is to vote in a January referendum on secession from the rest of Sudan to form a new country.
“A lot of wild rumors have been getting to them, that if the south separates, there will be insecurity, and if there is insecurity, their assets worth billions of dollars in the form of pipelines and so on will have been a waste,” Anne Itto, Southern Sudan’s minister of agriculture, told reporters today in the semi-autonomous capital, Juba, upon returning from China.
“I told China, the Chinese people, that if they want to protect their assets, the only way is to develop a very strong relationship with the government of Southern Sudan, respect the outcome of the referendum, and then we will be doing business,” said Itto, who is also deputy secretary-general of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or SPLM.
Sudan is sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest oil producer, with output of 490,000 barrels a day, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Most of the oil is pumped in the south, and China is the main destination for exported Sudan crude.
China is interested in expanding oil exploration to more blocks, Itto said. A senior delegation from the Chinese Communist Party is expected as early as October to try to “bridge the gap,” she said.
“Whether anybody likes it or not, China is providing leadership in the development of developing countries,” she said. “They are stepping up. They are funding, particularly in the area of agriculture and exploration of natural resources.”
China National Petroleum Corporation is the operating partner in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, of which it owns 40%. The majority of the GNPOC’s concession falls in Southern Sudan territory, though the oil contracts were signed with the Khartoum government in the north during the war.
- Database Search
- Unpaid Debt A comprehensive overview of the role of the Lundin Consortium in the oil war. ECOS calls upon the Swedish, Austrian and Malaysian governments to investigate whether, as a matter of international law, Lundin, OMV and Petronas 'were complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by others during the period 1997-2003.’ In response, the Swedish Public Prosecutor for International crimes opened a criminal investigation into ‘links between Sweden and the reported crimes’.
- In Depth For more specific information about the Lundin court case please visit the Unpaid Debt dossier.
