Khartoum accuses southern rebels of violating peace accord with oil deal

KHARTOUM, March 16 (AFP) — The Sudanese government on Wednesday slammed an oil deal signed between the former southern rebels and a British-based oil firm as a violation of a January 9 peace agreement.

Gas flaring at an oil terminal of Eguatu, Warri-South, Niger Delta. (AFP).

Any unilateral signing or renegotiation concerning oil concessions previously attributed by the government is “an open and direct violation of the peace agreement of January 9,” a senior peace deal negotiator, Amin Hassan Omar, told the official SUNA news agency.

The peace agreement ended more than two decades of fighting between Khartoum and John Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLM).

The controversial oil deal was signed last year, under which the former rebels’ oil authority granted a concession to a British-based oil start-up, White Nile.

Khartoum had previously awarded the same fields to French giant Total.

A joint oil commission to be set up in the coming weeks when a new government is established “will be the sole authority entitled to supervise previous agreements and sign new agreeements in any part of the Sudan,” Omar said.

The creation of the commission is provided for in the peace agreement, but the deal reached between the SPLM and White Nile used a clause stating that deals reached before the peace accord had to be respected.

Although experts predict White Nile’s claim to the disputed block would not withstand any legal challenge, the row has revealed early cracks in the peace agreement on the sensitive issue of oil wealth.