IAN TIMBERLAKE ARABNEWS
Wednesday 13 February 2013
Billions of dollars in oil revenue for the crisis-hit economies of Sudan and South Sudan are being held hostage by Khartoum’s concerns over border security, diplomats and experts say.
Sudan’s allegations that South Sudan supports rebels continue to halt the flow of lifeline oil from the south.
There is no immediate hope of a resolution to the dispute between the two states despite months of African Union mediation, the experts say, concerned that tensions are escalating.
“All of us are fed up with the negotiations,” Ali Abdullah Ali, a Sudanese economic expert, said before the latest round of talks scheduled for today.
“The failure of the two Sudanese nations’ negotiations has become an unquestionable reality,” The Citizen newspaper wrote in an editorial.
South Sudan split from the north in 2011 with about three-quarters of united Sudan’s oil production on its territory.
The new nation said petroleum provided 98 percent of its revenue. But it stopped production more than a year ago, accusing Khartoum of theft during a row over how much the South should pay for shipping its oil through Sudanese pipelines for export.
Optimism returned in September when the Sudan and South Sudan presidents hailed an end to their conflict. They signed deals in Addis Ababa to resume the oil flow and demilitarize the undemarcated, disputed border where they fought in March and April.
But months later, none of those agreements has been implemented.
Sudan would have received $1 billion-$1.5 billion (750 million-1.1 billion euros) annually as transit fees and other payments under the oil deal, according to an international economist.
Billions more dollars would have reached South Sudan from its oil exports.
But Khartoum insists oil cannot flow until security issues are addressed.