South Sudan company denies US investor purchased land tract

January, 28, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – A South Sudanese company affiliated with General Paulino Matip Nhial, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), clarified in a statement that it did not sell any land in oil-rich Unity State.

Responding to coverage in other news organizations that referred to the agreement as a purchase, the company clarified that “there was no land sold to an American company … the two companies signed a joint venture agreement to open commercial agricultural schemes throughout South Sudan.”

A U.S. firm, Jarch Management Group, Ltd, had purchased a 70% interest in the Sudanese company Leac for Agriculture and Investment and leased approximately 400,000 acres of land claimed by General Matip, according Philippe Heilberg, the U.S. investor behind the deal.

Jarch has a long history of partnering with General Matip in a bid to exert rights over oil in Unity State, which lies on the disputed border region between North and South Sudan. Heilberg’s firm, which is registered in the Virgin Islands, is managed by commodities traders and former State Department and Central Intelligence Agency officials, among others.

Gordon Buay, who acts as a legal advisor to Leac, referred to the exaggerated media angle, saying “such a misleading report angered the whole African continent and we are hereby clarifying the matter.”

Buay insisted that the agreement between Jarch and Leac does not contravene the law governing companies and business enterprises in the South.

The terms of the deal designate Jarch with the responsibility for soliciting funding from investors while Leac determines the overall implementation of the projects. The two companies intend to summit their joint venture agreement to the South Sudan Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development.

Leac, which is managed by Matip’s son, Gabriel Wiethiang Paulino Matip, said it will acquire “a sizeable piece of land from the government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) or local government land authorities for the purpose of establishing commercial farming….”

The press release from Leac stressed the potential benefits that mechanized agricultural schemes will provide to Sudan.

“There is no doubt that with effective mechanized agriculture, the financial benefits which local and state governments would reap shall triple. The state and local governments shall have budgets for development because of the cash flows from the agricultural schemes the two companies will operate,” said the company.

During Sudan’s civil war, Paulino Matip led a militia among the Bul Nuer, and he was often backed by the government. Subsequently he came to terms with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, signing the Juba Peace Declaration with SPLA leader Salva Kiir Mayadrit in 2007, and he has technically incorporated his forces into SPLA in accordance with the terms of the 2005 peace deal.

(ST)