S. Sudan security arrest state-owned oil entity official
March 22, 2018 (JUBA) – South Sudanese security operatives have arrested an official working for the state-owned oil company (Nilpet) over allegations he could have leaked out confidential documents.
“Mark Mabil was picked and taken to the national security service detention facility at Jebel Kujur, west of capital Juba,” said Akolda Ater, a senior manager at Nilepet.
A relative also confirmed Mabil’s arrest, saying security agents accused the state-owned oil company official of leaking documents that unearthed corrupt dealings in the government-owned entity.
A source privy to Nilepet affairs said Mabil was interrogated by the security operatives, but denied knowledge of the alleged leakage.
The United States administration has issues sanctions on 15 South Sudan oil-related entities “whose revenues have contributed to the ongoing crisis in South Sudan.”
The move means US, as well as non-US companies, would need a license to export, re-export, or transfer exports of any US-origin goods or technology to the listed entities.
Early this month, Global Witness, in a new investigative report, implicated the leadership in South Sudan is using oil revenues from Nile Petroleum Corporation – NilePet, the national Oil & Gas Corporation of South Sudan to fuel the conflict, now in its fifth year.
The report, titled “Capture on the Nile” says NilePet is under the direct control of President Salva Kiir and his cronies, and is being used to funnel millions in oil revenues to the country’s brutal security services and ethnic militias, with little oversight and accountability.
Secret documents and first-hand testimony were relied on to unearth the dirty deals that occur within the national oil company, it stated.
In one such document, the report said, the managing director of the Nilepet received a letter requesting a payment of over $1.5 million, for expenses incurred by South Sudan’s national security services.
The letter signed by the then minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau also made reference to an earlier communication by Lt. Gen. Akol Koor Kuc, the director general of the Internal Security Bureau (ISB), which is part of the security service.
The national oil company, however, says it operates in secrecy, and the report details how this secrecy has been used to finance military operations, arms transfers to ethnic militias, and conceal the looting of millions of dollars meant to help imports of essential goods.
South Sudan’s security forces have also been accused of atrocities in the country’s civil war, including ethnic cleansing and rape.
Nilepet has denied the allegations in the Global Witness report and its official now say the evidence collected could have been forged.
Since its independence, South Sudan has relied on oil for all its incomes, a situation that has significantly compounded the ongoing political and economic instability, due to the fall in crude oil prices.
South Sudan got the lion’s share of the oil when it split from Sudan in July 2011, but it’s only export route is through Sudan, giving Khartoum leverage and leading to ongoing pricing disputes.
Oil production in South Sudan has, however, been affected by the conflict that erupted in 2013 after a political disagreement between President Salva Kiir and his then deputy, Riek Machar, triggered war.
The war in South Sudan, which has featured the use of child soldiers, rape as a weapon of war, and mass atrocities, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and has left over 4 million people displaced.
(ST)