South Sudan official warns of possible oil shut down after Bashir’s remarks
Landlocked South Sudan may be forced to stop oil its production, if statements that the Sudanese president ordered the blockage of the pipeline transporting its crude oil are confirmed, an official said.
President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir on Saturday ordered oil minister Awad al-Jaz to block the pipeline carrying South Sudan’s crude all the way to Red Sea coastal city of Port Sudan.
Bashir, who was speaking in Khartoum state, said this decision was in response to Juba’s continued support to the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebels fighting Khartoum on multiple fronts.
The Sudanese president said the decision was taken after thorough study to examine its advantages and drawbacks.
But a spokesperson at South Sudan’s foreign affairs ministry has described as “unfortunate” the Sudanese leader’s remarks, which were widely broadcast on the state-owned television.
“This means we have to stop [oil] production,” Mawien Makol told Bloomberg on Saturday.
South Sudan information minister earlier said the young nation had not been informed about the decision.
"We haven’t heard anything about that yet. We had agreed that the oil would flow," Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters, adding that South Sudan rejected Bashir’s claims that it was supporting rebels operating on Sudanese soil.
Should Sudan implement its plan to shut the oil pipeline, it will be regarded a heavy blow to agreements brokered by African Union mediation team.
Sudan and South Sudan, in September of last year, signed a series of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, and border trade, among others.
The two countries, in March, signed an implementation matrix for these cooperation agreements.
South Sudan took with it nearly 75% of oil it previously shared with neighbouring Sudan, when it broke away from the latter in July 2011 as part of the peace accord signed six years earlier. In January last year, the young nation shut down its oil production over a dispute with Khartoum over transit fees.
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