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South
Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit
during
his Monday’s speech before the parliament
on
the current oil dispute with neighboring Sudan (ST)
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South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir has asked the
country’s legislature to back his government’s decision to halt oil production
in the wake of what he described as “looting” by neighbouring Sudan of oil
revenues worth $815 million.
Landlocked South Sudan decided last
week to shut down oil production countrywide after its officials said that
ex-civil war foe Sudan is stealing South Sudan’s crude oil flowing through its
pipeline infrastructure to export terminals in Port Sudan. Southern officials
also accused Sudan of blocking vessels laden with oil from sailing out of Port
Sudan.
Khartoum defended its decision to
confiscate southern oil, saying Juba has failed to pay any
fees for using Sudan’s facilities since South Sudan
seceded in July last year, as per the 2005 peace
deal that ended more than two decades of civil wars between the two
sides.
Addressing members of the Juba based National
Legislative Assembly, President Kiir explained that his government
took the decision to halt oil production after exhausting all possibilities of
a peaceful settlement, and after there was no guarantee that oil flowing
through Sudan would “reach its intended destination”.
He went on to recount that Khartoum informed
them on December 6 that all oil shipments belonging to South Sudan would only
be allowed to leave Port Sudan after paying the “exorbitant”
amount of $32.2 per barrel.
South Sudan strongly objects to
Khartoum’s demands of $32.2 per barrel, saying it is “a broad daylight
robbery,” according to one official, and insisting it will only pay fees in
accordance with international standards.
Kiir revealed that last week he sent
envoys to Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia whose presidents reached out to Sudan’s
president, Omar Hassan
al-Bashir and asked him to stop taking “unilateral decisions” about
South Sudan’s oil.
“The response from Bashir is that he
will not stop taking oil until we pay the exorbitant amount of $32.2 per
barrel, something that is completely out of international norms and a
precedence that we are unwilling to set,” Kiir declared.
According to Kiir, the total amount of
oil revenues “looted” by Khartoum since December through blocking oil shipments
and diversions amounts to approximately $815 million.
“We cannot allow assets which clearly
belong to the Republic of South Sudan to be subject to further diversion,” he
told parliamentarians in explaining his cabinet’s decision to halt production
with immediate effect.
However, Kiir acknowledged that his
country needs to find “other sources of funding” in order to cope with the
disruption of oil revenues on which South Sudan’s growing economy heavily
relies.
The president revealed that he had
already instructed the ministry of finance to devise “contingency plans” to
accelerate the collection of non-oil revenues.
He further emitted assurances that the
government can survive “for the immediate future” on the existing cash
reserves.
“I want to assure the people of South
Sudan that all measures will be taken to ensure that any disruption is minimal”
he said.
Kiir also warned that the disruption
of oil revenues “could last many months” in light of what he termed as the
Sudanese government’s failure to negotiate “in good faith”.
He however did not shut the door on
continued negotiations with Sudan, saying his government would do everything
possible to resolve the impasses and restore the flow of oil.
“I call upon this august house to
support the decision of the Council of Ministers to stop the flow of oil and
search for alternative sources of funding to manage government projects,” Kiir
told the MPs.
Concurrently, demonstrations backing
South Sudan’s decision to halt oil production erupted in the capital Juba on
Monday.
Meanwhile in Khartoum, the Sudanese
government has downplayed the impact of South Sudan’s decision to suspend oil
production, and suggested that the demonstrations in Juba were contrived.
The media secretary of Sudan’s ruling National
Congress Party (NCP), Ibrahim Gandor, said that the biggest loser
from the disruption of oil production is South Sudan itself, not Khartoum.
He further said that Juba
demonstrations were “concocted” by the government of South Sudan to send a
message saying that the South Sudanese public supports the decision.
Gandor said that the government in
Juba believes that the decision is a way of exerting economic pressure on
Khartoum coupled with Juba’s support for armed groups in order to change the
government in Sudan.
“This is a big delusion,” he added.
However, the state minister for media
in Sudan, Sana Ahmad, struck a conciliatory tone, saying her country is still
keen to reach a negotiated settlement under the mediation of the African Union
High Implementation Panel (AUHIP).
She added that Sudan had taken all
precautions to avert the negative impact of South Sudan’s decision to stop oil
production.
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