Sudanese president threatens to close oil pipeline

May 27, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – President Omer Al-Bashir on Monday called upon South Sudan to implement cooperation agreement and warned that supporting rebels will lead to stop oil flow for the international market.

“If Juba supports rebel groups, this would lead to shutting down the pipeline” which carries the southern oil to Port Sudan, Bashir said in a speech delivered outside the headquarters of the Sudanese army during an spontaneous celebration of the taking back of Abu Kershola on Monday.

Al-Bashir considered his words a final warning for the government of South Sudan to stop supporting rebel groups and threatened to cancel cooperation agreements in case it continued to do so.

Earlier this month Sudanese foreign minister Ali Karti met with president Salva Kiir in Juba telling him that they have evidences that some circles in his government continue to support the rebels.

He further transmitted a demand from Bashir asking to allow the Sudanese troops to chase them inside the South Sudanese territory and to close some business offices in Juba allegedly importing military logistics for the rebel groups.

But president Kiir announced that he had rejected these requests as the deployment of joint patrols with the cooperation of a UN force permits to monitor the common border.

In September of last year, the two countries signed a series of cooperation agreements which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, and border trade among others.

After several months of an apparent setback, the two parties signed an implementation matrix in March of this year for these cooperation agreements.

However observers agree that mistrust will continue to prevail between the two countries unless the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile is peacefully settled.

(ST)