Oil portfolio still holding up Sudan unity cabinet

Sept 6, 2005 (Khartoum) — The formation of Sudan’s much-awaited national unity government was still being held up by bitter negotiations over the crucial oil portfolio, an official involved in the talks said Tuesday.

“The problem of the ministry of energy and mining has not yet been solved,” Lam Akol, a senior official from the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, told AFP.

Akol dampened hopes that an agreement would be reached this week on the line-up of the government, whose establishment is required by the north-south peace deal signed in January.

“Consultations on formation of the government of national unity will be resumed at the presidential level after the return of General Salva Kiir from Kampala on Thursday,” he said.

First Vice President Kiir leads the SPLM side in the negotiations with the Sudanese government.

Quotas set by the peace agreement determine the number of portfolios each camp should obtain, but the former foes have been locked in acromonious talks over the oil portfolio.

The government was supposed to have been in place by August 9, but its formation was also disrupted by the death in a July 30 helicopter crash of southern leader and first vice president John Garang.

AFP/ST.