Sudan’s negotiators recount latest round of oil talks with Juba
February 16, 2012 (KHARTOUM) –The team representing Sudan at the negotiations with neighboring South Sudan has offered its account of why the latest round failed to produce a breakthrough on oil transit fees.
Abdel Gadir recounted that his team had presented an offer of $32 fee for every barrel of South Sudanese oil passing through Sudan’s territory. He pointed out that the offer also included Khartoum’s willingness to settle arrear payments piled since July last year.
Sudan and South Sudan have been engaged in protracted talks to reach an agreement on a fair charge to export southern oil via Sudanese territories.
Khartoum, citing frustration with the slow pace of the talks and Juba’s failure to pay any fees since South Sudan’s secession in July last year, moved to sequestrate oil flowing through its pipelines and blocked vessels carrying oil from sailing out of Port Sudan.
This unilateral action prompted Juba to accuse Khartoum of stealing oil amounting to 6 million barrel and suspend oil production.
Abdel Gadir that South Sudan’s negotiating team came up with an offer of 3 dollars per barrel which, according to the Sudanese official, defy all rules of international law.
Similarly, South Sudan says that Khartoum’s offer of $32 per barrel is extremely steep in comparison to international standards.
In a separate statement, the member of Sudan’s negotiating team Yahia Hassan Babikir said in a press conference on Thursday that South Sudan’s negotiating team did not display any seriousness and insisted on its same offer.
Babikir, however, noted that the latest round witnessed some positive developments, particularly South Sudan’s expression of interest in resuming oil exports through Sudan if an agreement is reached.
But the Sudanese negotiator later returned to criticize South Sudan over accusations that Khartoum manipulated oil production figures. He also accused some circles within South Sudan’s government of seeking to topple the government in Khartoum through the oil shutdown.
“It is an open secret that some groups are seeking to create instability and overthrow the regime [in Khartoum]” Babikir said.
Commenting on recent threats by South Sudan to expel Chinese oil companies on accusations of complicity with Khartoum, the Sudanese official said it was possible that Juba’s conflict with Sudan over the oil issue is contrived in order to replace Chinese companies with Western ones.
South Sudan’s chief negotiator Pagan Amum told journalists upon his return home from Addis Ababa that Chinese companies would be expelled if found guilty of complicity with Khartoum in “stealing” South Sudan’s oil.
Sudan and South Sudan are expected to resume oil talks by the end of this month but it is unclear how the wide gap on transit fees can be bridged.
(ST)