Sudanese agree oil shareout, more talk needed

NAIROBI, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Sudan’s government and rebels have agreed in principle on how to share oil revenues after their war is over but have yet to seal a full accord on dividing up the country’s riches, the chief mediator said on Sunday.

A comprehensive agreement on sharing the wealth of Africa’s biggest country would clear a key hurdle in ending a conflict which has killed two million people and uprooted four million since it began in 1983.

“Both sides have told me they have agreed in principle on the oil sharing, but we are still a long way from a full wealth sharing agreement,” the mediator, Kenyan retired general Lazarus Sumbeiywo, told Reuters.

He declined to say what proportion of oil revenue each side had agreed on but added: “This is a significant move. It helps add to an eventual wealth sharing agreement. But oil is not the only wealth of Sudan.”

The rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) declined to comment on Sumbeiywo’s remarks.

Earlier a Sudanese government spokesman, Said al-Khatib, said both parties had agreed a 50-50 shareout of oil revenue from the south of the country where most of the fields are.

Asked to comment on Khatib’s remarks, Sumbeiywo said without elaborating that he had no information that would contradict Khatib’s version of the agreement in principle.