ABDELMONEIM ABU EDRIS ALI | AFP ARABNEWS
Thursday 18 October 2012
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Parliament yesterday approved almost unanimously deals with South Sudan on oil and security that the two countries’ presidents have hailed as ending their conflict.
“After discussion by the MPs, the general feeling of the assembly is to agree to those deals,” Parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir told deputies just before the vote.
Roughly half of the chamber’s 350 MPs were present for the ballot, and only two of them voted against the agreements.
The late-September deals, signed by Sudan’s President Omar Bashir and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir, came after the neighbors fought along their undemarcated frontier in March and April, sparking fears of wider war.
A UN Security Council resolution ordered a cease-fire and the settlement of crucial unresolved issues, under African Union mediation.
“We received a positive reaction from the international community expecting our signature on the agreement, and they believe we are a responsible state that is looking out for the benefits of its people,” Foreign Minister Ali Karti told legislators.
He criticized Sudanese press criticism of the deals.
The South’s government halted oil production in January after accusing Khartoum of theft in a long-running dispute over how much the impoverished government in Juba should pay for sending its oil through northern infrastructure for export.
The deals signed last month included agreements to ensure the resumption of oil exports, as well as progress on a financial package of about $3 billion that South Sudan offered Khartoum.
The package is compensation for the economically damaging loss of most of Sudan’s oilfields when South Sudan separated in July last year.