US calls for swift resolution of oil dispute between Khartoum and Juba
January 30, 2012 (WASHINGTON) – The United States (US) permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), Susan Rice, on Monday urged the neighbouring states of Sudan and South Sudan to quickly resolve their long standing dispute over oil.
“We believe that four of the ships have now just been released, which is an overdue and important step.” Rice said.
“We hope that conditions can quickly be created so that the parties can sit at the table and finalise, as swiftly as possible, a permanent arrangement with respect to the oil and revenue sharing, without which both sides will suffer and the loss of oil revenue will be crippling to all”, she added.
The landlocked nation of South Sudan halted production of its oil and the exportation of it through the north’s pipeline to Port Sudan in a dramatic escalation of a dispute over the payment of transit fees.
Juba further claims that Khartoum has confiscated US$815 million worth of its oil since last year.
Sudanese officials justified their move by saying that the negotiations on oil transit fees have yielded no results and that they can no longer wait given the economic crisis in their country, resulting from the secession of the south which contained 75% of oil reserves.
Juba strongly resisted Khartoum’s call for US$36 per barrel in transit fees and so far all proposals tabled by the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) have received lukewarm backing from the two sides who kept pushing for amendments.
The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan met in a quartet summit organised over the weekend in Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and attended by Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki, but talks broke down without any agreement.
Nonetheless, Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir heeded a request by Zenawi and ordered the immediate release of four oil tankers held by Khartoum since earlier this month as part of the dispute.
Khartoum called on Juba to reciprocate and reverse their decision to suspend oil production. South Sudanese officials however insist that the northern neighbour must return the “stolen” oil.
The US permanent representative to the UN also expressed her government’s “grave concern” on the “deteriorating” situation in the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
The World Food Program (WFP) said today that conflict and food shortages could force up to half a million Sudanese refugees to flee to South Sudan in the next few months if Khartoum does not allow aid agencies into the two states.
The U.S. warned this month that it will look into a launching unilateral operation to provide aid to affected population in these two states without Khartoum’s permission stressing that famine could ensue by March.
(ST)