A top official from South Sudan claims that his government has offered Sudan billions of dollars to settle the dispute over the oil-producing Abyei region.

South Sudan became the world's newest country after voting for independence in a January vote, taking with it three-quarters of the former united country's roughly 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.

The split left a long list of unresolved issues; including Abyei, how to share oil revenues and other assets, and how to end border violence. Sudan is facing a severe economic crisis and has asked fellow Arab countries for aid to compensate for the loss of oil revenues.

African Union (AU) mediators hope both countries will meet in Ethiopia next week after talks collapsed in the summer over the question of how much the landlocked South should pay for the use of Sudan's export facilities.

Apart from how to divide oil revenues, Abyei is one of the biggest disputes between north and south. Sudan's armed forces seized the border region in May and says Abyei will stay with the north unless a much-delayed referendum agreed under the 2005 peace agreement decides otherwise.

South Sudan's chief negotiator Pagan Amum said his government has presented Sudan and the African Union with a "package proposal" to resolve issues around Abyei, oil, financial assistance, borders and security.

"We presented a very reasonable and logical proposal in which we are prepared to assist the north and give them billions of dollars," Amum told reporters.

He said his country would "be ready to assist the Republic of Sudan to manage its economic crisis resulting from the separation of South Sudan," if Khartoum respects the territorial integrity of the South. He did not elaborate.

Decades of civil war have left the South severely underdeveloped but the flow of oil dollars means it has a higher per capita income than many of its African neighbours. It contracted the sale of oil worth $2.14 billion from July to October.

Sudan's foreign ministry spokesman El-Obeid Morawah declined to comment on Amum's proposal other than to say such moves should be made during talks and not through the media.

He said the government would meet AU mediator Thabo Mbeki in Khartoum on Saturday and then decide whether talks in Ethiopia would make sense now or if Sudan needed more time.
"We have not yet agreed on a specific date for talks (in Ethiopia)," he said.

Sudan's foreign ministry called on Juba to reconsider a presidential decree transferring shares in oil consortia owned by Sudapet, Sudan's state-owned oil company, to South Sudan's oil-firm

It’s business time in Juba

A group of twenty Dutch companies visited Juba this week, looking for business opportunities. In the South Sudanese capital they bumped into a 50-member strong delegation from Japan, who was there for exactly the same purpose. Meanwhile, the Indians are on their way.

By Arne Doornebal, Juba

It has already been dubbed ‘the scramble for South Sudan.’ Investors from all over the world are flocking into the three-month old country, looking for investment opportunities in several sectors of the economy of the 193rd member of the United Nations. More than twenty Dutch companies visited Juba this week in a mission organized by the Netherlands-African Business Council (NABC).

“South Sudan is like a clean sheet for investors,” says Anne Itto, a high profile politician and farmer from South Sudan. “We have 640 thousand square kilometers of land which is mostly arable. The agricultural sector can flourish here.”

Changing the mentality Agriculture, energy, transport and construction are the main areas of interest of the Dutch trade mission. “This is a very important moment for Dutch companies to invest in South Sudan,” says former Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Agnes van Ardenne, who leads the Dutch delegation. “After twenty years of war this country needs to develop its economy. It is time for us to change the mentality of development aid to a business approach.”

While the Dutch delegation was in a meeting with South Sudanese businessmen in one of Juba’s hotels, the room next door was reserved for a Japanese delegation. And a trade mission from India is expected in Juba shortly. “Since independence, many people came to South Sudan for business. But I am not afraid that we will be looted; our government will see to it that that won’t happen,” says Anne Itto.

“In our approach we like to work together with the local business people,” says Van Ardenne, who knows South Sudan well from her ministerial days. “We prefer ‘matchmaking events’ over giving glossy PowerPoint presentations to the government, although we acknowledge that they are crucial in setting the business climate.”

“Almost all fruit and vegetables in Juba are being imported from Uganda,” says Ed Swier of the Dutch seed company Bakker Brothers, while inspecting Juba’s Konyo Konyo market, where most traders are Ugandans. Swier sees a good opportunity here to sell seeds to local farmers. “I expect to start working with our local partner and bring our seeds on the market here very soon,” Swier says.

North and South Sudan: more negotiations needed

North and South Sudan ended their first talks since the south gained independence three months ago. Both parties said more negotiations would be held to try to settle their disputes ranging from sharing oil revenues to ending violence in a border area.

Southern President Salva Kiir held two days of talks with Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to ease tensions that have grown since South Sudan became independent in July as part of a peace agreement in 2005.

A diplomat said the talks were a positive sign that both sides wanted to improve ties but more time was needed to sort out their complicated disputes. At a joint news conference both leaders said more negotiations would be held.

"My government is ready to discuss solutions for all pending issues," Kiir said before leaving Khartoum. "I return today to Juba to ensure that we reach solutions to all pending issues. Let’s sign an agreement as soon as possible." Bashir said committees would work out solutions for all disputes in a set timeframe. He did not elaborate.

The African Union and former South African President Thabo Mbeki have tried to mediate, but little has been resolved.

A lack of a joint banking system and trade agreements is hampering cross-border commerce between north and south.

The United States has urged both sides to speed up talks to reach especially a deal on how to divide oil revenues - the dominant source of revenue for both states. Juba took most of the oil, but need to pay a fee to use northern export facilities both sides have failed to agree upon.

The Washington-based Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP), which monitors imagery gathered from space-based sources, said last week that Sudan has deployed at least 3,000 government troops on a road leading to Kurmuk.

Analysts say the fighting with the rebels in Blue Nile, along with separate clashes in South Kordofan state, risk drawing the newly independent South Sudan into a proxy war.

The Sudanese government has accused the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of being behind the violence. The SPLM-North, the movement's branch in Sudan, has blamed Khartoum.

Sudan and South Sudan signed a border security agreement on Sunday, taking a step towards improving ties after tensions over border violence and sharing oil revenues.

The SPLM's northern wing, the SPLM-N, fought with the south before a 2005 peace deal that led to South Sudan's independence in July. It has supporters in north Sudan, particularly the border areas.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29