Sudan Gov’t, Rebels Sign Oil Revenue Deal
By ANDREW ENGLAND Associated Press Writer
NAIVASHA, Kenya, Jan 08, 2004 (AP) — Sudanese government and rebel officials signed an agreement Wednesday on sharing the nation’s wealth, eliminating a key obstacle to reaching a comprehensive peace accord in Africa’s longest-running war.
Among the riches to be shared by the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army is revenue from the 250,000 barrels of oil per day coming from the south.
President Bush has invited both sides to the White House when they reach a comprehensive settlement to end their 20-year conflict. U.S.-Sudan relations have been tense since the government hosted Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist organization in the early 1990s.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Sudan for supporting terrorism, banning U.S. companies from doing business there. U.S. officials have said a peace agreement would be a good first step toward getting the sanctions dropped, but that they would remain in place as long as suspected Palestinian terrorists live freely in the capital, Khartoum.
The only remaining obstacles to a peace deal – all potential deal-breakers, despite Wednesday’s optimism – are the composition of a transitional administration, the fate of three disputed areas in central Sudan, and whether the Sudanese capital should be governed under Islamic law.
“It’s a historic day in the process of peace in Sudan,” said Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha. “This moment in which we have signed a wealth-sharing agreement spells an end to the long episode of war and conflict in our country. It confirms the mutual desire and will to go on with the process.”
Both Taha and John Garang, leader of the southern-based rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army, said the agreement proved they were committed to reaching a final deal to end the war, in which more than 2 million people have perished, mainly through war-induced famine.
Garang said he hoped a full agreement will be reached this month and promised to start a process to release all prisoners of war as a goodwill gesture.
“It is a major achievement that will take us closer to a just and lasting peace in our country,” Garang said.
The two sides agreed to split net oil revenue from the south equally during a six-year transition period.
The agreement would also set up a monetary system allowing for Islamic banking in the north and Western banking in the south, and introduce a new national currency. Currently, all Sudan’s major banks are run under Islamic law, which forbids most forms of interest.
The war erupted in 1983 when southern rebels took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north. The rebels say they are fighting for greater equality for the south and for southerners to have the right to choose whether to remain part of Sudan.
Sudan has proven oil reserves of over 1 billion barrels and prospects of an additional 1 billion to 4 billion barrels.
It began exporting oil in 1999. The rebels and international human rights groups accused the government of forcing tens of thousands of southern villagers to flee the oil region.
Despite the oil wealth, most southerners live in simple mud huts and lack access to water and electricity. The region is regularly beset by outbreaks of disease and food shortages.
Also Wednesday, a U.N. envoy headed to Chad to push for new talks to end fighting between the government and rebels in Darfur, western Sudan. Tom Eric Vraalsen will also seek more refugee relief and visit Darfur, along the border with Chad, a U.N. press statement said.
A Sept. 3 cease-fire brokered by Chad was to have been formalized in early December but talks broke down over demands made by the Darfur rebels, who call themselves the Sudan Liberation Army. They have fought the government since 2003.
More than 750,000 people have fled the fighting, which the U.N. High Commission for Refugees has called a “silent emergency.”
Under Wednesday’s agreement, a petroleum commission made up of representatives from the north and the south, as well as from the oil producing states, will be set up to manage the oil sector. But the agreement also said all current oil contracts will be respected.
A consortium of The China National Petroleum Co., Malaysia’s Petronas and Sudan’s Sudapet control the vast majority of the leases and exploration options.
Chevron mapped out the oil fields during a brief period of peace in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but no U.S. oil company has expressed interest in recent years.
The parties agreed that non-oil revenue from the south also will be split 50-50, while all northern revenue will be distributed to northern states and the national government.
In July 2002, shortly after the peace process began, the parties agreed to a six-year transition period during which the south will have a regional administration. After that period, southerners will vote in a referendum on whether to secede.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw praised the agreement.
“It is a further significant step toward peace in Sudan. We urge both parties to build on it with a view to concluding a comprehensive agreement very soon,” Straw said in a statement.
Chief mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo said the wealth-sharing deal was a major breakthrough, but cautioned: “The more they finish one issue, the more complicated it becomes because there are fewer options.”
Past peace agreements between political leaders from north and south Sudan in the last 50 years have held for only a few years before fighting began again.
The focus of the talks will now shift to the three disputed areas, the Nuba Mountains, southern Blue Nile and oil-rich Abyei.
Peace talks are being held in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, 60 miles northwest of Nairobi.