South Sudan raises prospects of new fighting
South Sudan’s president has raised the prospect of renewed fighting with neighbouring Sudan after the recent collapse of talks over oil revenues, saying a proposed deal “would guarantee future and possibly immediate conflict over land, people, and oil”.
The two countries are at loggerheads over a protracted failure to strike a deal over oil pumped from the south but exported via the north. South Sudan seceded from Sudan last July after decades of civil war.
In a statement on Thursday, Salva Kiir, president of South Sudan, said of a proposed agreement over sharing oil revenues tabled by mediators from the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel in Addis Ababa last week: “It is difficult for me to accept a deal that leaves our people vulnerable, dependent and paying billions they do not owe.”
He added: “And it would not be fair to my people to support an agreement that invites more conflict by failing to resolve underlying issues.”
Between them, Sudan and South Sudan produce about 460,000 barrels a day, according to the US Department of Energy. Three-quarters of this oil is in South Sudan, but the south’s oil needs to be sent north for export. Khartoum has diverted some of South Sudan’s oil, prompting South Sudan to turn off the taps on production running to 350,000 barrels a day.
China, the largest buyer of the oil, has been forced to seek crude elsewhere. Also the largest oil investor in both countries, it has sought to speak to both parties in recent weeks to encourage a deal.
Its role has been complicated by the kidnapping of 29 Chinese workers by opposition forces close to the border in Sudan.
Mr Kiir said he rejected any plan that proposed continuing dependency, saying it previously brought only “continued confrontation and human suffering”. Mediators have been tasked to assure the two oil-dependent countries’ mutual economic viability.
The president said he refused proposed clauses that would require South Sudan to commit to use northern infrastructure and restrict the export of oil through Sudan. Analysts had previously said mutual oil dependency might be the glue that held the two countries together after the secession of the South.
South Sudan has said it wants to find alternative pipelines and refineries to take charge of its own export. It recently signed an agreement with Kenya to build a pipeline to its coast at Lamu, even though the port does not yet exist.
Mr Kiir said South Sudan was still committed to a negotiated solution through the AUHIP team, but that it must include a comprehensive resolution of the disputed border territory of Abyei and five other border areas. Talks are meant to recommence in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on February 10.
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