Officials encourges S. Africa investments in South Sudan
April 21, 2006 (CAPE TOWN) — Officials in south Sudan are looking for foreign investment to develop the impoverished but oil-rich region that has been devastated by a 21-year conflict which ended last year.
“We are looking not only in South Africa, but all over the world,” David Mayo, a member of the economic commission of south Sudan’s parliament, told IPS. (The peace deal that ended the war, Africa’s longest-running conflict, provides for self rule in south Sudan — and a referendum on secession in 2011.)
Mayo was speaking at a two-day conference on southern Sudan, organised by the University of Cape Town, which wound up April 21.
“We have good relations with South Africa, so we would like to encourage (the country) to come and help us in the area of food security, which is a priority to us,” he noted.
“We need them to assist us in agricultural development such as diary and livestock development, agro-industry and cash crops like wheat, maize, cotton, sunflowers and palm oil.”
Most of south Sudan’s estimated 12 million people have depended on food handouts since conflict with the north erupted in 1983 over religious and ethnic differences. With over three million displaced persons living in squalid camps in the north and about 500,000 refugees in neighbouring countries expressing an interest in returning home, the need to ensure supplies has become even more pressing.
The government of south Sudan, based in Juba, has allocated 24 million dollars for the repatriation of refugees. Many of the returnees are expected to go back to their villages to farm, or tend cattle.
“Over 30 million head of livestock and potential fish catches ranging between 100,000 and 300,000 tonnes per year exist in southern Sudan,” Salva Kiir, president of the government of South Sudan, told parliament in Juba earlier this month.
“That potential is capable of making a significant contribution to food security and national economic growth. Already these two sectors directly or indirectly provide employment and means of livelihood to millions of households.”
But south Sudan’s agriculture and fishing industries are still in their infancy. Farmers use small hoes, which makes tilling a back-breaking task, while the majority of fishermen still rely on traditional methods of catching fish — with spears or hooks.
“This is where South Africa becomes important. It will bring an element of technology, like agricultural equipment, as well as expertise,” Mayo said.
Landmines act as a deterrent to investment in south Sudan, as do the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army. This Ugandan rebel group has operated from south Sudan — and achieved infamy for its forced recruitment of children to serve as fighters, and propensity to amputate the lips, limbs and ears of its victims.
There are also areas in the south of Sudan where age-old ethnic rivalries persist, aggravated by cattle rustling and disputes over grazing land during the dry season.
But perhaps the biggest obstacle to South African investment is a lack of awareness locally about South Sudan.
The region is new and unpredictable terrain for business people. They are cautiously monitoring the shaky peace agreement — and appear less intent on making up the knowledge shortfall about Sudan than do academics.
“The South Africa academia is more interested in south Sudan than its business people. You can judge this by the number of conferences, workshops and seminars being held on the Sudan in this country,” John Yoh, a leading authority on Sudan at the University of South Africa (UNISA), told IPS. UNISA is based in the capital, Pretoria.
He suggests that the government of south Sudan should open a trade mission in South Africa to promote investment.
A source at the South African Chamber of Business in Johannesburg echoed these views.
“There is a lot of interest in the oil industry, but this has yet to translate into action,” the source said in an interview with IPS.
Sudan produces 500,000 barrels of oil per day, mostly from the wells in the south, according to official statistics. The East African country expects to increase output by 150,000 barrels per day this year. Indian, Malaysian and Chinese firms are the main investors in the Sudanese oil industry.
Under a wealth-sharing arrangement agreed during peace talks, the north and south will each take 50 percent of oil revenues until the referendum in 2011.
While South Africa’s businesspeople have yet to start making their way to Sudan in large numbers, the country is investing in Sudan in other ways.
Some 32 officials from the department of finance in south Sudan are undergoing a month-long training programme at UNISA. They started the course on Apr. 19.
This exercise is part of wider initiative which began soon after the conclusion of the north-south peace deal in January 2005. It kicked off with a month-long leadership orientation course for 85 top former rebel officials, headed by Kiir, in Pretoria. This was followed by a course for 25 diplomats and 30 administrators.
“Every time, they’ll be training between 30 and 40 officials until 2008,” said Yoh, one of the organisers of the initiative.
In addition, South Africa is chairing the African Union committee that is overseeing the reconstruction of southern Sudan. It is also amongst the first countries to be building a consulate in Juba.
(IPS)