American oil firms push to invest in Sudan
American oil firms push to invest in Sudan
BBC Monitoring Service – United Kingdom
Published: May 18, 2007
Text of report by Sudanese newspaper Al-Ra’y al-Amm website on 18 May
[Report from Washington/Khartoum by Miriam Abshir: “Sudan’s Ambassador in Washington meets Congress members, confirms interest by American firms in Sudan’s petroleum. Khartoum sources: ‘No objection to dialogue with the Bush Administration on condition of respect for National Sovereignty'”]
A number of American petroleum companies have expressed a desire to mediate between Khartoum and Washington to bridge the gap in the relations between the two countries. According to information obtained by Al-Ra’y al-Amm, the group of companies that have shown their dismay in the past at the continuation of the economic embargo on Sudan has already launched contacts between the American Administration and the Khartoum Government that has given them the green light to carry on with their attempts.
Sudan’s Ambassador to Washington John Ukec said that a dialogue was now underway between Khartoum and Washington through parties that he declined to identify.
The ambassador said in statements to Al-Ra’y al-Amm that the debate conducted through these parties has not taken an official format until now, although he pointed out that Washington wants to enter the Sudanese petroleum market.
But a governmental source involved in the issue told Al-Ra’y al-Amm that a group of companies that believe its interests have been hurt by its country’s decision to impose an economic embargo on Sudan has already started to bridge the gap between the two countries. The source said Khartoum informed the group it does not object to full normalization with the American Administration on the condition that the Administration does not push for any demands infringing on the country’s national sovereignty.
The source said that a senior official met on the fringes of the Iraq Conference in Sharm al-Shaykh with a number of officials from the US State Department who told him explicitly that the American Administration wanted to work out an equation that would enable it to lift the economic embargo imposed on Sudan. According to the source, the officials defined a package of demands that would give the White House the necessary strength to face the centres of pressure that are hostile to Sudan. The source said the American firms that have launched this quest want to invest in the north and in the south.
He pointed out that some firms that have started already to work on some small projects in South Sudan have reached a conviction that it was impossible to work in the South without need for the North. He said the coming days will see the materialization of a specific view on the issue of dialogue with the Americans.
Meanwhile the charge d’affaires of Sudan’s Embassy disclosed that he had a meeting with a number of Republican Senators the day before yesterday [16 May]. Ukec told Al-Ra’y al-Amm that he had informed the Senators the situation in Darfur was on its way to finding a radical resolution, that Sudan was now being run by a National Unity Government with the participation of officials from Darfur, and that the people of Darfur were working in complete coordination with the National Unity Government to solve the Darfur problem.
Source: Al-Ra’y al-Amm website, Khartoum, in Arabic 18 May 07