South Sudan rejects AU oil plan

SINGAPORE Feb 1 (Reuters) – South Sudan’s chief negotiator has rejected African Union-backed proposals that could see it pay up to $6.5 billion to Sudan in the latest attempt to break a deadlock between the two over oil export transit fees, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The latest draft proposal from the AU foresees the South giving Sudan a direct cash transfer of between $2.6 billion and $5.4 billion, plus transit fees worth up to $1.1 billion, covering the period until the end of 2014, the report said.

The AU set these figures as parameters for discussion, with an exact figure to be decided on within 30 days, it added.

“The AU has lost sight of the principle of mutual economic viability,” Pagan Amum, lead negotiator for the South, was quoted by the Financial TImes as saying.

“We could not sign; they were stealing the oil and obstructing the flow of our oil, and this robbery continues up to today. Now it is not secure for us to put our oil through Sudan because of this state piracy. This is about our economic independence. No country can continue through a country that is hostile.”

South Sudan — which seceded last July under a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war with Khartoum — has shut down its roughly 350,000 barrels per day of oil production in protest after Khartoum started to seize some southern crude to compensate for what it called unpaid fees.

The landlocked new nation took control of about three quarters of the unified country’s roughly 500,000 barrels a day in oil output, but it needs to export its crude through northern pipelines to the Red Sea port of Port Sudan.

Earlier, Amum reiterated South Sudan’s proposal that the country pay a fee of $0.69 per barrel for one of the pipelines and $0.63 per barrel for another. Sudan has publicly stated it wants a fee of $36 per barrel.

Oil provides about 98 percent of South Sudan’s income and is vital to the impoverished country as it tries to develop infrastructure and institutions devastated by a war that killed an estimated 2 million people. (Reporting by Himani Sarkar; Editing by Simon Webb)

http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL4E8D10LA20120201

South Sudan rejects AU oil plan
Financial Times
South Sudan’s chief negotiator has rejected African Union-backed proposals that could see it pay up to $6.5bn to Sudan in the latest attempt to break a vicious deadlock between the two over sharing oil revenues. The impasse, which reached a head at the …

Israel Says It Will Deport South Sudanese
ABC News
Now that their country has gained independence, thousands of migrants from South Sudan must leave Israel or face deportation, Israel’s Interior Ministry said Tuesday. Some 7000 South Sudanese are believed to be in Israel, part of a larger influx of …

Q+A: Can buyers of seized Sudanese crude get into legal trouble?
Reuters UK
By Florence Tan and Osamu Tsukimori | SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Buyers of South Sudanese oil seized by Sudan may escape legal trouble although Khartoum may get dragged into a prolonged arbitration battle for selling crude at steep discounts, lawyers said …

UN scales up food assistance for more than 80000 people in South Sudan
UN News Centre
An internally displaced mother and her children among IDPs in South Sudan. Photo: UNMISS/Gideon Pibor The United Nations World Food Programme announced today that it will scale up its assistance to reach 80000 people affected by the recent escalation …

South Sudan’s Development: How Will It Be Financed ?
Voice of America
January 31, 2012 South Sudan’s Development: How Will It Be Financed ? Panelists at a recent VOA-sponsored public discussion answer audience questions Nation building is never easy. And for South Sudan, it is an even more difficult task given the …

In South Sudan, a wave of tribal killings tests fragile independence

Sudarsan Raghavan/WASHINGTON POST – Kayoi Maze, 42, was separated from her two daughters, ages 18 and 16. Her neighbors later informed her that the fighters had abducted them. “I don’t expect to ever see them again,” said Maze, who like hundreds of villagers returned to the city Likuangole over the weekend to receive food aid from the UN’s World Food Program. ”At least I have two daughters left.”

By Sudarsan Raghavan, Published: January 30

LIKUANGOLE, South Sudan— Nothing is intact in this town, save the memories. Every hut was burned to the ground. The only health clinic and the only school were torched. Hundreds were killed or injured. Thousands more fled.The United Nations and South Sudan’s government had combat forces in this town at the time of the assault late last year. But witnesses say they did nothing to stop the killings.

South Sudan map: Likuangole; Jonglei state; Pibor; Duk Padiet; Likuangole; Nuer tribe; Murle tribe

Gallery

 South Sudan has become an independent nation through a peace process championed by successive U.S. presidents but still beset by lingering tensions from years of war.

When the attackers reached a village nearby, they shot Nyandit Allan, 28, twice in her left leg and again in the face, then slit the throats of her two stepsons. “They were singing as they left,” said Allan, who is now recuperating in a clinic.Six months after celebrating independence,the world’s newest nation is grappling with a virus of tribal violence. In many ways, the inevitable has happened, as ethnic and political tensions exploded after being suppressed by the promise of separation from the north, after a decades-long war against rulers in Khartoum.

The United States and its allies have spent billions to help South Sudan become a stable, pro-Western pillar in a region plagued by terrorism and militant Islam. But now the intensifying attacks have ignited tribal violence and threaten to undermine a government already facing a long list of daunting challenges.

Stopping the violence “would demand a very, very significant military operation, and the government also would have to move significant forces to make that happen,” said Hilde Johnson, the head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan.

The state of Jonglei has long been gripped by poverty, ethnic and political tensions, a massive influx of weapons and a history of cattle raiding between the Nuer and Murle tribes. Last year, the United Nations documented 208 attacks that displaced more than 90,000 people.

But the current bloodletting appears far more vicious and widespread. Once, only cattle camps were raided. Now, entire villages and towns are being razed, infrastructure destroyed.

“Our clinic is full of women and children,” said Karel Janssens, field coordinator for theaid agency Doctors Without Borders in the town of Pibor, where many of the wounded have sought refuge.

Torn apart by revenge

Since the attacks by the Lou Nuer, a subgroup, on this area in late December and early January, the Murle have risen up. They have marauded Nuer areas across Jonglei. Two weeks ago, 47 people were killed in the village of Duk Padiet. Aid agencies have launched a massive humanitarian effort to help those harmed by the raids, which the United Nations now numbers 120,000 people.

On Dec. 17, a Nuer militia known as the White Army announced that it would protect the Nuer population and their cattle from the Murle because the government was not doing enough.

The militia, which has a fundraising and media arm in the United States, said it was also seeking revenge for the massacre of 700 Nuer by Murle warriors in August, a month after South Sudan declared independence.

In a telephone interview, Gai Bol Thong, a Nuer spokesman who lives in Seattle, said his group had raised $45,000 from supporters in the United States and Canada for food and other “humanitarian” needs of the fighters.

Sudarsan Raghavan/WASHINGTON POST – Kayoi Maze, 42, was separated from her two daughters, ages 18 and 16. Her neighbors later informed her that the fighters had abducted them. “I don’t expect to ever see them again,” said Maze, who like hundreds of villagers returned to the city Likuangole over the weekend to receive food aid from the UN’s World Food Program. ”At least I have two daughters left.”

On Dec. 25, the White Army e-mailed a statement vowing to “wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth.”The next day, 6,000 Lou Nuer fighters attacked Likuangole.

They stole thousands of heads of cattle. They destroyed all the boreholes, eliminating the main source of water here. Groups of warriors targeted Murle men, while others tracked down women and children who had fled into the thick bush.Kayoi Maze, 42, was separated from her two daughters, ages 18 and 16. Her neighbors later told her that the fighters had abducted them.

“I don’t expect to ever see them again,” said Maze, who like hundreds of villagers returned to Likuangole to receive aid from the U.N. World Food Program. “At least I have two daughters left.”

Local officials estimate that 850 people were killed in Likuangole and nearby villages, including 660 women and children. An estimated 150 women and children were abducted. An additional 2,250 people were killed in surrounding areas. But neither the United Nations nor the government have confirmed those figures.

In Likuangole, two human skulls lie on a patch of charred ground near the U.N. base. The smell of rotting flesh still wafts through the air. In graffiti covering the walls of the school, the Lou Nuer fighters have declared the town part of their territory.

“We have done this to you,” reads one message, “because you have done it to us.”

‘The U.N. failed us’

When the gunmen attacked, Achiro Manibon remembered running in one direction as his three wives and four children ran the other way. They were all shot dead.

Manibon, 35, had expected the United Nations combat force and South Sudanese troops stationed in the town to fend off the attackers. But they didn’t fire a weapon, he said. Across this area, people feel betrayed by their military and the U.N. peacekeepers, which has a mandate to use force, if needed, to protect civilians.

For weeks, the peacekeepers had tracked columns of Lou Nuer fighters making their way toward Likuangole and Pibor. Yet they dispatched only 400 of their 3,000-member force.

Simon Ali, a local administrator, said he brought five disabled people to the U.N. base for protection. The peacekeepers told him to put them in a hut about five yards from the base, he said. When the Lou Nuer arrived, they fired into the hut. Then, they torched it with the people inside, Ali said.

“The U.N. failed us,” he said. “We asked for their help and they did nothing.”

Johnson, the head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan, said U.N. forces in Likuangole had evacuated 41 people, mostly disabled and elderly, before the attack, “but we cannot rule out there might have been some civilians left.” She added that she was not aware of any incidents in which U.N. forces did not provide assistance to civilians seeking refuge.

In Likuangole, there’s also deep mistrust of the government. Many senior officials, including Vice President Reik Machar, are Nuer, and Lou Nuer soldiers number in the thousands in the military and are unlikely to intervene, residents said.

Col. Philip Aguer, a South Sudanese military spokesman, said that only 500 soldiers were in Likuangole at the time of the attack, and that it would have been like “sentencing your soldiers to death” if they had tried to fight the 6,000 Lou Nuer warriors.

“The real reason why they did nothing is because the force was not capable of confronting the attackers,” Aguer said. “Not because many are Nuer.”

Today, roughly 1,500 U.N. peacekeepers — half the force — are patrolling Jonglei state. But it has become even more difficult to stop attacks. The Murle fighters are moving in small groups, staging swift stealth attacks, making the violence harder to monitor and predict. “You could see a pattern of where they are moving, but we, with all our helicopters, are not able to detect that they are going to that village or not that,” Johnson said.

Back in the United States, Gai Bol Thong is continuing to raise funds for the White Army. If the government cannot protect the Nuer community, “we will do some revenge against the Murle,” he warned.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/in-south-sudan-a-wave-of-tribal-killings/2012/01/27/gIQAtxogdQ_story_1.html

South Sudan official: Cattle raid kills 70; nation struggles to contain internal violence

By Associated Press, Published: January 30

JUBA, South Sudan — An official in South Sudan says more than 70 people were killed in a recent cattle raid.Interior Minister Alison Manani Magaya said Monday that a Nuer tribe from Unity state attacked a Dinka community in neighboring Warrap state Saturday. He says 70 people were wounded and attackers took more than 4,000 cattle.

The Warrap attack is the latest in a series of cattle raids since December. Ongoing raids between Nuer, Murle and Dinka communities have killed hundreds. The United Nations estimates over 120,000 people have been affected in Jonglei state alone.Magaya said authorities had not found any links connecting the attacks in Warrap to violence in Jonglei.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in July and is struggling to contain internal violence that has plagued the region for years.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/south-sudan-official-cattle-raid-kills-70-nation-struggles-to-contain-internal-violence/2012/01/30/gIQAwiiAcQ_story.html

Laptops for South Sudan

Retired naval lieutenant who served with UN hopes to help schools

 By Richard Watts, Times Colonist January 31, 2012

In newly independent South Sudan, where roads are dirt, electricity comes from portable generators and people live in earthen huts, there is still the Internet.

That’s why Esquimalt resident Peter Dibben, a recently retired lieutenant with the Royal Canadian Navy, is looking for cast-off laptop computers he can transport to a South Sudan high school when he heads there this month, so students and teachers can go online.

“I would really like to donate half a dozen laptops that could really make a big difference to people in that school,” Dibben said.

Dibben, 49, spent about six months in the newly independent Republic of South Sudan as an unarmed UN military observer.

He said he got the idea for the laptop-computer donations while talking to the headmaster of a high school in South Sudan.

The country officially became an independent state July 9, following a referendum the previous January. That independence followed many years of civil war.

Dibben said despite the widespread poverty and lack of infrastructure, many towns and cities have erected cellular telephone towers.

Laptop computers, equipped with cellular modems and charged up with portable generators, could provide some Internet access.

“You’re not going to download a movie on it, but you can use it if you want to access email or get some information for a school project,” he said.

Anyone with a laptop to donate can contact Dibben at dibben.pw@hotmail.com. You need to act fast, however: Dibben is due to leave for Sudan from Ontario Feb. 14.

A divorced father of two grown children, and now a grandfather of three, Dibben is committed to paying his own way to South Sudan. Besides his request for laptops, his principal aim is to assist in setting up a co-operative for processing a nut grown in Sudan.

While there, Dibben said, he realized that one of the few resources South Sudan has is a supply of a locally grown commodity called shea nuts.

Also called lulu nuts by the Sudanese, the nuts produce an oil that is valued in cosmetics sold around the world.

He said he hopes to act as a middleman, linking funding sources in North America with an African agency that works to set up local co-operatives to operate processing plants to extract the oil from the shea nuts.

Dibben is already online with one potential funding agency in Vancouver.

Ultimately, he believes the co-operatives might spawn other benefits.

“I can see whole bunches of schools there so moms can bring their sons and daughters to provide a cheap, or even free, education while the mothers are working,” he said.

Dibben said his motivation stems in part from his Christian ethic, but it’s mostly just something he wants to do.

“I don’t have to do this but it’s like something God is calling me to do, and it’s something I just want to do,” he said.

rwatts@timescolonist.com

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Laptops+South+Sudan/6077003/story.html#ixzz1l3Tf6sRn

South Sudan’s oil cutoff: brilliant negotiating strategy, or suicide?

Guest blogger Aly-Khan Satchu sees a larger proxy war in the current standoff between Sudan and South Sudan over dividing revenues from South Sudan’s oil. 

By Aly-Khan Satchu, Guest blogger / January 30, 2012

• 

South Sudanese express their support as President Salva Kiir declared a halt on all oil operations in South Sudan, in Juba January 23. The Republic of South Sudan in their sitting on Monday decided unanimously to halt all oil operation in South Sudan immediately.

Isaac Billy/UN/REUTERS

NAIROBI, KENYA

The current stand off between Sudan and a newly independent South Sudan made me recall ananecdote told by Henry Kissinger, after a series of negotiations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad‘s father, the late President Hafez al-Assad.

South Sudan’s top negotiator, Pagan Amum told reporters in Addis Ababa Saturday: “Tomorrow the [oil] shutdown will be complete and what will be remaining to be done the day after is finishing the cleaning and flushing of facilities.” South Sudan is shutting down its oil production, last put by officials at 350,000 barrels per day in November. Approximately 99 percent of the new state’s income is from the sale of oil. 

Earlier in the week, South Sudan’s Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin announced that South Sudan and Kenya had signed a memorandum of understanding to build an oil pipeline to the Kenyan port of Lamu. Construction of the pipeline will begin “as soon as sources of funding are made available,” which should take about a month, he said.

Minister Benjamin is reckoning that the pipeline could be completed in 10 months. That’s a bullish call. The biggest problem is surely the sky-high risk of asymmetric guerrilla-type sabotage. I would think it’s highly likely. Therefore, insurance for the pipeline might well prove punitive. However, the point remains that we in Kenya have an embedded geopolitical advantage in this region, that being the route to the sea. It is like the jugular vein for many of our East African neighbors.

Neither Juba or Khartoum are ranked AAA by credit rating agencies. Khartoum has lost a great chunk of their revenues. The South, meanwhile, can hardly afford to lose the cash flow that comes from the sale of its 350,000 barrels per day. And that’s why I started with Henry Kissinger‘s description, “I had even known negotiators who put one foot over the edge, in effect threatening their own suicide.”

Now, there is a back story to this. You see, through 2011, Sudan provided China with 5 percent of its total oil imports. You will recall that 35,000 Chinese workers were evacuated out of Libya in nine days last year and China was rolled back and right out of Libya. Not so long ago, President Obama authorized the deployment to Uganda of approximately 100 combat-equipped US forces to help regional forces ostensibly to “remove from the battlefield” – meaning capture or kill – Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony.

Then in January this year, President Barack Obama issued this memorandum.

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 503(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, and section 3(a)(1) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, I hereby find that the furnishing of defense articles and defense services to the Republic of South Sudan will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace,” said the official text of Obama’s decision.

It seems to me Sudan has become the epicenter of the US and China’s collision in Africa and that we are watching a 21st-century, high-stakes proxy war. I have to surmise that the US is underwriting Salva’s overdraft, what with all these demobilized soldiers roaming around Juba, it would be suicide to have them unpaid for any length of time. I wonder who is underwriting Bashir? Maybe, he is calling in favors in Libya?

Aly-Khan Satchu is the CEO of the East African financial portal http://www.rich.co.ke and can be followed on Twitter @alykhansatchu

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http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2012/0130/South-Sudan-s-oil-cutoff-brilliant-negotiating-or-suicide/(page)/2

China denies that any of its 29 workers abducted in Sudan have been freed

BEIJING — China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned a leading Sudanese diplomat to express “deep shock” over the abduction of 29 Chinese workers after an attack in a volatile region of the country.The summons is a sign of growing Chinese concern over the fate of the workers, three days after they were taken by militants in the South Kordofan region.

Sudanese state media reported Monday that 14 of them had been freed, but the official Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper said all 29 were still being held.“The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting overseas Chinese nationals. We felt deep shock over this abduction incident and are deeply concerned over the safety of the 29 Chinese,” Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.China hopes Sudan will “keep in mind the overall situation of bilateral friendship” and ensure their swift release, Xie told Sudanese Charge d’Affaires Omer Eisa Ahmed, according to the statement.It quoted Eisa as pledging Sudan’s full support.The summons was a rare public sign of tension in China’s close political and economic relations with Sudan, which center on exchanging Chinese infrastructure projects for access to Sudanese oil.

That followed the dispatch earlier Tuesday of a group of Chinese security experts to assist in the rescue work.

A statement from the workers’ company, Sinohydro Corp., said that it and the Chinese Embassy would “spare no effort in ensuring the personal safety of those abducted and rescuing them.”

Xinhua said 47 Chinese workers were caught in the attack in the South Kordofan region of Sudan. It said 29 were captured and the other 18 fled, and that one of those who fled remains missing.

Sudan’s state-run SUNA news agency said the attack took place near Abbasiya town, 390 miles (630 kilometers) south of Khartoum.

Sudanese officials have blamed the attack on the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, a branch of a guerrilla movement that has fought various regimes in Khartoum for decades. Its members hail from a minority ethnic group now in control of much of South Sudan, which became the world’s newest country only six months ago in a breakaway from Sudan.

Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in South Kordofan. The government of South Sudan says the accusations are a smoke screen intended to justify a future invasion of the South.

China has sent large numbers of workers to potentially unstable regions such as Sudan. Last year it was forced to send ships and planes to help with the emergency evacuation of 30,000 of its citizens from the fighting in Libya.

China has used its diplomatic clout to defend Sudan and its longtime leader, Omar al-Bashir. Recently, it has also sought to build good relations with leaders from the south.

South Sudan and Sudan are in bitter dispute over oil, which is produced primarily in South Sudan but runs through Sudanese pipelines for export.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/china-denies-that-any-of-its-29-workers-abducted-in-sudan-have-been-freed/2012/01/30/gIQAA8cedQ_story.html

China denies that any of its 29 workers abducted in Sudan have been freed
Washington Post
The workers were abducted Saturday by militants in a remote region in the country’s south.Sudanese state media reported Monday that 14 of them had been freed, but the official Xinhua News Agency and China Daily newspaper said all 29 were still being …

Laptops for South Sudan
Victoria Times Colonist
By Richard Watts, Times Colonist January 31, 2012 2:18 AM In newly independent South Sudan, where roads are dirt, electricity comes from portable generators and people live in earthen huts, there is still the Internet. That’s why Esquimalt resident …

Promote good relations between South Sudan media and security organs
Sudan Tribune
Recently South Sudan has come under international scrutiny after it detained journalists without charges and in inhumane conditions. A strong demand was made for the release of the journalists and indeed the journalists were released without any formal …

South Sudan official: Cattle raid kills 70; nation struggles to contain …
Washington Post
JUBA, South Sudan — An official in South Sudan says more than 70 people were killed in a recent cattle raid. Interior Minister Alison Manani Magaya said Monday that a Nuer tribe from Unity state attacked a Dinka community in neighboring Warrap state …

Marie Stopes International—South Sudan Abortion Clinic in Juba
Borglobe
By Dennis After 21 years of civil war in Sudan where millions of lives were lost, we would imagine that the most logical programme for the world’s youngest nation—South Sudan, would be one that promotes population growth to replace the lost lives…

JobsWASH Manager in South Sudan
Reuters AlertNet
Ensure Medair South Sudan guidelines, BA and HAP-I guidelines ensuring the standardised formats are used and guidelines followed in liaison with the M&E Officer. Support the implementation of projects in accordance with Medair, donor, Sudanese and …

Free press euphoria fading fast in South Sudan
Reuters
By Ulf Laessing | JUBA (Reuters) – Dengdit Ayok’s dream of a free press in Africa’s newest nation dissolved when he was arrested and beaten up after writing about the wedding of South SudanesePresident Salva Kiir’s daughter. In an article published in …

Israel to deport South Sudanese
Fox News
JERUSALEM — Israel’s Interior Ministry says thousands of people from South Sudan must leave or face deportation. Spokeswoman Sabine Haddad says since the Southern Sudanese have an independent state, they will no longer be given protected status in …

South Sudan – Fleeing to a Safer Place
Reuters AlertNet
BOR, South Sudan/GENEVA, 30 January 2012 – Manyok is the father of a Dinka family living in Jonglei State, South Sudan. He married his wife Rebecca two years ago and they have a one-year-old child. Rebecca’s father died many years ago, so when Manyok …

In South Sudan, a wave of tribal killings tests fragile independence
Washington Post
LIKUANGOLE, SOUTH SUDAN — Nothing is intact in this town, save the memories. Every hut was burned to the ground. The only health clinic and the only school were torched. Hundreds were killed or injured. Thousands more fled. The United Nations and …

UN urges Sudan, South Sudan to pull out of Abyei border region
Monsters and Critics.com
New York – The United Nations Monday called for Sudan and South Sudan to withdraw their security forces and police from the border region of Abyei because they interfered with the return of war-displaced people and nomadic migration.

Why the beleaguered hospitals of South Sudan are out for blood
The Guardian
A small fridge in the corner of Juba teaching hospital’s laboratory is the only blood bank in South Sudan. The world’s newest country has some of the worst health statistics in the world. Health workers say a lack of blood is the main cause of …

Sudan, South Sudan to resume oil talks on February 10
Press TV
The recent breakdown in the talks between Sudan and South Sudan in the High Level negotiations in Addis Ababa was a big shock for Sudan and the mediators. Oil was a major setback to the continued mediation for peace by the neighboring countries of …

S. Africa’s Month from Sudan to Syria, Missing Annex & Robben Island, AU Vote Inner City Press South Africa’s month atop the Council began with the UN in South Sudan failing to get “lethal assets to dissuade” attacks to Pibor, where an untold number of Murle people were killed. But Sudan quickly became overshadowed by Syria, to the extent that …

President Kiir: The New Year brings new hope of building a peaceful nation

President Kiir: The New Year brings new hope of building a peaceful nation

The President of the Republic, Salva Kiir Mayardit has extended New Year wishes to all the citizens of the country. In his message to the people of South Sudan as a free nation on Sunday, President Kiir called on the South Sudanese to start the New Year by reflecting on their past to inform the future. The message indicated that a new year brings new hopes, challenges and new opportunities and that the people of the country need to build a peaceful, prosperous, secure, and stable South Sudan.

President Kiir said it is unfortunate that as the country celebrates this new beginning, there are still tribal conflicts going on due to cattle rustling, pinpointing the current conflict in Jonglei state between the Lou Nuer and the Murle tribes.

According to the message of President Kiir, the senseless behaviour of raiding each other’s cattle can no longer be tolerated and should stop with immediate effect. The message puts it plainly that the cattle are a national resource, culture and pride and should therefore not be turned into a curse resource.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

President Kiir called upon the youth of Lou Nuer who are currently occupying Murle villages claiming they are perusing their stolen cattle, abducted children and women to leave the Murle villages and return to the Lou Nuer villages urging that the Government must be the one to pursue the stolen cattle, abducted children and women. He also called on the Murle tribe to desist themselves from the culture of stealing cattle and abducting children and women of their neighbours and ensure that the cattle they had taken and the children and women they abducted are returned to joint their families.

The President strongly directs the Lou Nuer to move out from the Murle villages and has equally ordered the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to move in and protect the civilians. He also warned politicians and community leaders encouraging this lawlessness act through cattle rustling to stop. President Kiir was blunt that any politician or community leader whose statement would be construed as encouraging ethnic hostility will be made accountable.

President Kiir called on the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations to work hand in hand to enhance the humanitarian assistance and to cooperate with the state and national authorities in facilitating the return of the abducted children and women back to their families and ensure that the stolen cattle are also returned to their rightful owners.

SPLM-N in Talk with the Chinese Government to Secure the Release of the 29 Chinese Workers

Dear All,
Please find attached and enclosed hereunder our latest statement.
Thanks
Anwar Elhaj
SPLMN Representative to the US

The SPLM-N Establishes Contact with China and Forms a Three-Person Committee to Secure the Safety and the Evacuation of the Chinese Workers Out of the War Zone

On January 30, 2012, an SPLM-N delegation led by its Chairman, Malik Agar, along with the Secretary General, Yasir Arman, and the Treasurer, Ramdan Hassan, met with the Chinese Ambassador, Xie Xiaoyan, and two colleagues, who were instructed by the Chinese government to follow-up on the issue of 29 Chinese workers and technicians who were constructing a road in the Abassya-rashad area where the Sudan government laid a failed ambush against the SPLA-N. That road, for now, will be used to support the National Congress’ genocidal military effort. Ambassador Xie stressed the concern of China for the safety of the Chinese workers and for their return home to their families and that China is not part of the conflict in Sudan but rather the workers came for development projects in Sudan. It is worth mentioning that before the meeting, we had established contact with Commander Abdel Aziz el-Hilu, the Deputy Chairperson of the SPLM-N, who said that the Chinese are in safe hands with SPLA-N; that he already gave strict instructions to secure the safety of the Chinese and their return back to China from the war zone; and he warned the National Congress forces that they should not target the Chinese area by aerial bombardment or ground attack. If they did so, they would be held responsible especially after the meeting with the Chinese Ambassador. The official spokesperson of the National Congress forces mentioned to the press that they are sending forces to attack the SPLA-N area where the Chinese are located and that came after the continuous lies by him and Ahmed Haroun regarding the Chinese workers.

In the meeting, the SPLM-N leadership stressed the following:

1) The SPLM-N will do everything possible to secure the safety of the Chinese workers and it will cooperate fully with the Chinese Government and the Chinese Communist Party to ensure the safety of the Chinese citizens and to secure their return home out of the war zone especially as it is the time of the Chinese New Year celebration and the SPLM-N would like those workers to be with their families during this time.

2) The SPLM-N requests from China to relocate Chinese citizens outside of the war zone in South Kordofan and Blue Nile and the SPLM-N welcomes the contribution of China in development after the war ends.

3) The SPLM-N delegation gave background of the present conflict in the North and about the “Northern Question” to the Chinese delegation and explained in detail the aggression of the National Congress against the SPLM-N and their decision to ban the organization, the killing and wounding of hundreds of civilian populations in the aggression, arbitrary arrest of its leaders and sentencing some of them to death, continuous barbaric attacks from air and land which resulted in the displacement and refuge of hundreds of thousands of civilians inside and outside of Sudan in South Kordofan and Blue Nile and in the neighboring countries of the Republic of South Sudan and Ethiopia. The SPLM-N calls upon China to contribute to the humanitarian operation and to ask Khartoum government to open safe corridors for humanitarian operations and access, which has been denied by the National Congress leadership, and to call again upon China to support the SPLM-N’s demand of an international investigation on the war crimes; to stop the genocide by Khartoum and the impunity which encourages more crimes against Sudanese people; and to support the demand of the SPLM-N of a holistic approach that will end the tragedy and misery of the Sudanese people and bring a just peace to Sudan. Likewise, the SPLM-N asked the Chinese delegation to convey to Khartoum that they should stop any military operations in the area where the Chinese are present until their safe evacuation.

4) The SPLM-N leadership has formed a three-person committee with Neroun Philip as the Chairperson and Hishim Wrta from the SPLM-N humanitarian wing and Arnu Ngtullu Loddi, the official spokesperson of the SPLM-N, to follow-up and to secure the safety of the Chinese workers and to evacuate them in full coordination with the Chinese Government.

The Ambassador of China expressed the appreciation of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Government of the SPLM-N’s understanding and cooperation and the need to continue the dialogue and the relations between the two.

Yasir Arman
SPLM-N Secretary General
January 31st, 2012

South Sudan accuses Sudan of killing 79 during cattle raid

AU leaders Monday were trying to encourage the rivals to seek a deal on the sidelines of the Pan-African bloc’s summit in Addis Ababa Photo: EPA/JACOLINE PRINSLOO

South Sudan has accused its former foes in the Khartoum government of arming gunmen who killed 79 people in a cattle raid, as the UN warned tensions between the two sides risk regional peace.

“A militia group from Unity state penetrated into Warrap state … and attacked people in a cattle camp,” said Interior Minister Alison Manani Magaya, adding 79 people had been killed, updating an earlier toll of 40.

“This militia group was armed by the government of Khartoum,” he said, adding that “mostly the women and children were killed” in the latest wave of violence in the world’s newest nation.

“More weapons are flowing in from Khartoum … particularly Unity state and Upper Nile,” he said, referring to South Sudan’s oil-producing states.

But Sudan’s army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad denied the allegations, saying: “We don’t have any connection with this. We never support any armed opposition in South Sudan or any place.”

South Sudan seceded peacefully from Sudan in July after decades of war, but both countries have since repeatedly exchanged allegations that each side backs proxy rebel forces against the other.

Oil-rich but grossly impoverished South Sudan was left awash with guns after years of conflict, and brutal tit-for-tat raids by rival ethnic groups to steal cattle from each other are common.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday that tensions and a furious row over oil between the former enemies has become a major threat to regional peace and security.

“The situation in Sudan and South Sudan has reached a critical point. It has become a major threat to peace and security across the region,” Ban told an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital.

Key issues unresolved at independence have escalated into bitter arguments, including a row over pipeline transit fees to transport the landlocked South’s oil to port in the rump state of Sudan.

Juba said Sunday it had nearly completed a shutdown of its oil production – the fledgling nation’s top revenue source – after it accused Khartoum of stealing $815 million of its oil, and AU-mediated talks stalled.

In addition, tensions have been raised by their still undemarcated border, parts of which cut through oilfields.

AU leaders Monday were trying to encourage the rivals to seek a deal on the sidelines of the Pan-African bloc’s summit in Addis Ababa.

The South’s oil-producing border state of Unity is a base for a number of rebel groups that Juba claims are backed by Khartoum to destabilise the fledgling nation by attacking civilians and laying landmines.

Magaya could not name the specific group responsible for the deadly weekend attacks, but claimed that rebel groups in Unity state were collaborating with one another.

“They took a lot of cattle with them,” he said, added that the gunmen were from the Nuer ethnic group, while those attacked were Dinka.

He said government teams had been sent to investigate and that the death toll could rise as local officials were “still counting the bodies.”

South Sudan is reeling from an explosion of ethnic violence, notably in Jonglei state, where a militia army of up to 8,000 armed youths attacked a rival ethnic group earlier this month, affecting 120,000 people, according to the United Nations.

The attacks were a dramatic escalation of centuries old tit-for-tat cattle raids, with aid workers reporting horrific killings, including babies beaten against trees and women hacked by machetes.

The United Nations has warned that South Sudan faces massive challenges as the world’s newest nation struggles to support hundreds of thousands of fleeing violence.

Last year, over 350,000 people were forced from their homes due to violence, according to UN figures, while since June, South Sudan has also taken in over 80,000 refugees fleeing civil war in the north.

Source: AFP

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sudan/9049828/South-Sudan-accuses-Sudan-of-killing-79-during-cattle-raid.html

Scores dead in cattle raid in South Sudan
ABC Online
South Sudan has accused its former foes in the Sudanese government of arming gunmen who killed 79 people in a cattle raid. “A militia group from Unity state penetrated into Warrap state… and attacked people in a cattle camp,” South Sudan’s interior …

Official: South Sudan cattle raid leaves 70 dead
Newsday
Nation Newsday > News > Nation Official: South Sudan cattle raid leaves 70 dead Published: January 30, 2012 7:43 AM By The Associated Press JUBA, South Sudan – (AP) — An official inSouth Sudan says more than 70 people were killed in a recent cattle …

NYMEX-US crude rises above $99 on Iran, S.Sudan
Reuters
| SINGAPORE Jan 31 (Reuters) – US crude oil rose above $99 a barrel on Tuesday on concerns over supply disruptions in South Sudan and OPEC member Iran. FUNDAMENTALS * NYMEX crude climbed 33 cents to $99.11 a barrel by 0004 GMT, after falling 78 cents …

Vote for new AU commission chief ends in deadlock AFP On the sidelines of the summit, protracted disputes between South Sudan and Sudan brought a warning from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Sunday that they threatened regional security. Ban said both Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudan …

South Sudan accuses Sudan of killing 79 during cattle raid Telegraph.co.uk South Sudan has accused its former foes in the Khartoum government of arming gunmen who killed 79 people in a cattle raid, as the UN warned tensions between the two sides risk regional peace. “A militia group from Unity state penetrated into Warrap…

Kenya, South Sudan to form team for oil pipeline project

Energy PS Patrick Nyoike. Last Tuesday, Kenya signed the oil pipeline and fibre optic deal allowing South Sudan build and own a pipeline through the Kenyan territory. FILE 

By ZEDDY SAMBUPosted  Monday, January 30  2012 at  21:04

Kenya and South Sudan will form a joint commission to streamline plans for the construction of an oil pipeline between Juba and the port city of Lamu.

South Sudan intends to construct a pipeline through Kenya to export its crude oil while the government would build a refinery in Isiolo to process the crude for local use and export to countries like Ethiopia.

“We do not have the money to build the pipeline. South Sudan has said it will build it but it will be jointly managed by the two countries,” said Energy PS Patrick Nyoike.

The PS said a similar arrangement would be adopted for the planned refinery, possibly on a 50:50 basis.

Last Tuesday, Kenya signed the oil pipeline and fibre optic deal allowing South Sudan build and own a pipeline through the Kenyan territory.

“We will form a joint venture on the twin projects . We have a counterproposal from Toyota Tsusho Corporation to build several multi products to Lamu and Nakuru,” he said.
Another line is planned to deliver products to the border town of Moyale to be tapped by Ethiopia. A pipeline would also be built to connect to the oil fields in Hoima in northern Uganda.

Mr Nyoike said it was possible to complete the project in a year given that the 2,000-kilometre line from South Sudan oil fields to Port Sudan was laid in 18 months.

The refinery, pipeline and fibre optic cable are part of the Sh16 trillion Lamu Port and Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor project.

The project includes resort cities along the corridor and airports linked via a modern railway line.

The pipeline offers South Sudan an alternative route to transport oil, which accounts for 98 per cent of its revenues while opening up northern Kenya for development.

Toyota Tsusho Corporation is planning to build a 1,400-kilometre oil pipeline under Build Operate and Transfer before handing over control of the facility to the two governments after 20 years.

The pipeline would carry a projected 450,000 barrels of oil a day from Juba in southern Sudan to Lamu on the Indian Ocean.

The estimated cost of the pipeline is $1.5 billion dollars (Sh135 billion).

“The pipeline is a gateway to move Sudanese oil to the market including Kenya. Both the crude oil line and the refinery are urgent. Our plan is to deliver both at the same time,” said Mr Sylvester Kasuku, Infrastructure specialist at Kenya’s Office of the Prime Minister.

He said Kenya would earn transit fees in line with international best practice adding that preliminary works on other aspects of Lappset such as roads and port building have started.

Landlocked South Sudan exports roughly 350,000 barrels per day but has started shutting down production after talks collapsed with Sudan over transit fees and revenue sharing.

Sudan says South Sudan has not paid for use of northern export facilities since its independence and is demanding $1 billion in fees and $36 per barrel for the crude to be exported through Port Sudan.

In the event of exports through Port Sudan being blocked, South Sudan has said the country can survive on borrowing (using its crude as collateral) until a new export avenue is created.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenya+South+Sudan+to+form+team+for+oil+pipeline+project++/-/539546/1317026/-/item/1/-/us053d/-/index.html

Sudan, South Sudan to resume oil talks on February 10

http://presstv.com/player/player.swf

The recent breakdown in the talks between Sudan and South Sudan in the High Level negotiations in Addis Ababa was a big shock for Sudan and the mediators.

Oil was a major setback to the continued mediation for peace by the neighboring countries of Kenya and Ethiopia. The negotiations were headed by the African Union High-Level Panel on Sudan Thabo Mbeki – the former president of South Africa. The crux of the problem is the passage of the oil pipelines through Sudan and the non payment by the south to the north for such pipelines.
Though there seemed to be an all round consensus during the talks by both parties, the last minute turned around by South Sudan to refuse to sign the agreement apparently without giving any reason , resulted in the crumbling of all the efforts by the mediators for this deal.
The Negotiations discussed the economic file, oil, trade, and financial accounts.  The Head of the Sudanese Delegation Iddris Mohammed Abd AlGadir , who was present in Addis Ababa said that the negotiations will stop till solutions are found, he added that the negotiations will resume on the 10th of February.
Whereas Chairman of the Sudanese Oil Committee Al Zubair Mohammed Alhasan, was of the opinion that there is no cause for any concern as he was confident that a solution would soon be found as at the end of the day, both the countries were one till the recent past and it was just a matter of ironing out the creases. He added that the South want to overthrow the government by the support of the West.
Political analysts are very optimistic, they observe that both sides will reach an agreement at the end, and the mediator is playing a very big role.
South Sudan was exporting oil for about 5 months, since its separation on the 9th of July 2011through the north without paying fees for the pipelines nor the port fees.
Though an effort is on the region to ensure that peace is brokered, the sudden withdrawal by South casts many doubts whether this is a deliberate act with an ulterior motive or is just naivety which will soon be reversed. Only time will tell.

http://presstv.com/detail/223978.html

Hilde F. Johnson: In South Sudan, Old Feuds Test a New State

By HILDE F. JOHNSON

An escalation of intercommunal violence has tested the resolve of South Sudan, the world’s newest country, and that of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS.

Extensive patrols by UNMISS over the past three weeks have not found the “trail of corpses” stretching “miles into the bush,” as alleged in some press reports. Parallels drawn to the genocide in Rwanda have been misleading with regard to the unfolding events and do not apply to the U.N.’s response.

Unfortunately, we have confirmed dozens of civilians killed in Pibor County. No matter the numbers, this is a human tragedy and a heavy emotional burden for all of us who have responsibility to maintain peace. The U.N. Security Council placed the highest priority on protection of civilians when it established UNMISS on July 8. And even when information is fragmented and difficult to piece together, truthful accounts of events are important.

In late December, UNMISS air patrols detected a column of nearly 8,000 armed Lou Nuer youths trekking toward Pibor County, the remote heartland of South Sudan’s Murle ethnic community in Jonglei State. Their stated aim was to take reprisals for Murle attacks on Lou Nuer communities in August that left up to 600 dead and hundreds injured. Lou Nuer and Murle hostilities date back decades, arising from competition for scarce resources and the decades-long civil war.

To address the immediate threat, the mission warned the South Sudan government of the impending attack and moved about half of its 2,100 combat-ready personnel to the population centers in the state.

The mission also gave early warning to tens of thousands of local residents. As a result, many were able to move away from towns and villages ahead of the Lou Nuer’s advance. The presence of an UNMISS battalion alongside units of South Sudan’s army (SPLA), established a defensive perimeter around much of the town of Pibor, largely shielding its population from the Lou Nuer raiders.

The peacekeepers were vastly outnumbered by the Lou Nuer marauders. Still, the SPLA and the effective positioning of the U.N. peacekeepers helped halt them from overrunning Pibor.

The Security Council commended these actions by UNMISS. Not every civilian was saved, but a much greater loss of life was averted.

Prior to the crisis, the mission had worked closely with the government in trying to prevent anticipated clashes and protecting civilians through military deterrence and active political engagement. But all violent attacks could not be prevented.

The long-standing conflict between the Lou Nuer and the Murle is far from over. In a bid to limit the damage from retaliatory Murle strikes into Lou Nuer strongholds in Jonglei, UNMISS troops have been redeployed to key locations where thousands of civilians are located.

Sadly, the chain of retaliatory violence continues unbroken, the latest target being the Dinka village of Duk Padiet, attacked on Jan. 16. The mission and the government are continuing their efforts to secure a cessation of hostilities, facilitate durable reconciliation and address the root causes of the conflict.

There are two larger lessons to be learned from the ongoing Jonglei crisis.

First, there is a need for effective government action to strengthen security presence in potential flashpoints, get the peace process off the ground, bring to justice those responsible for the attacks and establish programs that address the grievances of the communities.

Second, the United Nations and its members need to act with greater urgency in deploying the full strength of UNMISS troops to South Sudan so that the mission can exercise its mandate to the full in support of the government’s protection efforts.

The U.N. Security Council authorized a military personnel strength of 7,000, but only about 5,100 soldiers are in the country at present. Less than half of these are available for immediate deployment to the field.

UNMISS must be provided with resources and capabilities that match its mandate. Members of the Security Council expressed concern about the shortage of aircraft hampering UNMISS operations as the violence in Jonglei spiraled out of control. This lack of air assets impacts all.

The government of South Sudan has the political will to protect its citizens, but it is constrained by weak capacity in terms of rule of law, security infrastructure and assets. UNMISS, on the other hand, has a limited number of troops acting in a country where Jonglei alone is the size of Bangladesh. The difficulties of protecting civilians in this situation cannot be underestimated.

Despite these challenges, neither the U.N. mission nor the government were standing idly by during the latest crisis. Decisive action was taken to protect civilians. It is in this spirit that the mission will continue to exercise its mandate.

Hilde F. Johnson is the special representative of the United Nations secretary-general in South Sudan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/opinion/30iht-edjohnson30.html?_r=1

Sudan frees South Sudan’s oil tankers but row continues Reuters Two sides unable to agree a transit fee * Oil provides about 98 percent of South Sudan’s income * Disentangling oil among list of disputes after secession (Adds Sudanese foreign minister’s comments) By Alexander Dziadosz and Hereward Holland …

Kenya, South Sudan to form team for oil pipeline project Business Daily Africa Last Tuesday, Kenya signed the oil pipeline and fibre optic deal allowing South Sudanbuild and own a pipeline through the Kenyan territory. FILE By ZEDDY SAMBU (email the author) Kenya and South Sudan will form a joint commission to streamline plans…

In South Sudan, Old Feuds Test a New State New York Times An escalation of intercommunal violence has tested the resolve of South Sudan, the world’s newest country, and that of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, UNMISS. Extensive patrols by UNMISS over the past three weeks have not found …

Sudan frees South Sudan’s oil tankers; row continues Reuters By Alexander Dziadosz and Hereward Holland | KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – Sudan has released four tankers loaded with South Sudanese oil in an effort to defuse a row over export transit fees, but southern officials said the move was not enough to reverse …

SOUTH SUDAN-UGANDA: Economic migrants battle xenophobia IRINnews.org JUBA/KAMPALA, 30 January 2012 (IRIN) – Petty traders from Uganda, South Sudan’s largest trading partner, crowd into Konyo Konyo market in Juba selling used clothes, vegetables and household wares. Lacking economic prospects at home, they come in the …

VSO appeal for education specialists in South Sudan Ed Exec VSO is seeking experienced education specialists to volunteer in its new programme inSouth Sudan and help future generations of children access a good education. VSO is currently recruiting primary teachers, headteachers, inspectors and education …

African Union fails to elect new chief

By Aaron Maasho and Yara Bayoumy | Reuters 

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The African Union failed to elect a new head on Monday, highlighting the weakness of a group criticized for slow decision-making during political turmoil on the continent last year.

Former South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zumawas up against incumbent commission chairman Jean Ping of Gabon, who failed to win an outright majority in four rounds of voting.

The commission is the AU secretariat’s top organ and the chair its public face.

Smaller countries said Zuma’s candidacy broke an unwritten rule that the continent’s dominant states do not contest the leadership. “South Africa’s decision to do so turns everything upside down,” a West African delegate said.

“You could say they may have not voted for Ping but the smaller countries are skeptical of the big countries,” he said.

Analysts said Ping’s attempts to juggle the diverse views of its 54 members had hampered decision-making on Libya after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

“The weakness that Jean Ping had was not being forthcoming in putting his own opinion… the commission is a bureaucracy and it doesn’t have its own position but that of member states,” Mahari Taddele Maru, an African Union analyst at International Security Studies said.

The AU recognized the National Transitional Council as Libya’s de facto government long after most European nations, the U.S. and Nigeria. A Libyan delegate, describing the AU as “indecisive up to the last moment,” said the commission should be given more authority.

A member of the AU’s communications team said after hours of deliberation in the new Chinese-built AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital that Ping had won 32 votes in the last round, four short of the number needed for a majority.

The African Union has not yet made an official announcement.

SOUTH AFRICAN ROLE

South Africa, which has complained the United Nations needs to pay more attention to the pan-African body, especially when it comes to African crises, had pushed Zuma’s candidacy hard, saying the AU needed the strong leadership she could give it.

“The incumbent could not win a two-thirds majority after four rounds so this is very very clear, that leaders of this continent want change and they want it now,” said South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.

She said the rules dictated that the deputy chairman, Kenya’s Erastus Mwencha, would become interim chair until the next round of elections that would probably take place in six months at the next summit in Malawi.

South African President Jacob Zuma’s failure to secure a majority for Dlamini-Zuma, his ex-wife, after Ping’s much criticized tenure dealt a blow to South Africa, which regards itself as an emerging power championing African causes, but is seen by some other states as a step behind global affairs.

Envoys at climate talks in Durban last year criticized the largest economy in Africa for failing to get delegates to agree on a deal before two weeks of talks ended.

Pretoria also blocked a visit by the Dalai Lama to attend the 80th birthday of South African hero Desmond Tutu.

“President Zuma has been criticized for a weak foreign policy on Africa so he had to show his direction. This will be a crisis for him, that his first attempt to come up with a way to repair his policy has been defeated,” Maru said.

(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Duncan Miriri and Philippa Fletcher)

http://news.yahoo.com/african-union-fails-elect-chief-182151623.html

ANALYSIS: China, Japan scramble for oil as Sudan shuts fields

By Florence Tan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The shutdown in Sudanese oil supply could drive up already record premiums on spot crude markets as top Sudan customers China and Japan scramble for alternatives even as they weigh the impact on oil flows of international sanctions on Iran.

South Sudan has shut down its oil output, estimated at around 350,000 barrels per day (bpd), as it and neighbour Sudan row over how to disentangle their oil industries, borders and debt.

Before the shutdown, China imported most of that volume, bringing in around 260,000 bpd in 2011, according to Chinese customs data. That loss, in addition to cuts China has made in imports from Iran as Beijing and Tehran bicker over contract terms, has left China looking for alternatives equivalent to around 10 percent of its imports, or around 545,000 bpd.

“It will be a challenge to try to meet the shortfall in supply due to this sudden disruption as the overall quantity is not really that small,” said Victor Shum, senior partner at oil consultancy Purvin & Gertz said.

“Overall this is a tighter supply situation for Asian refiners.”

The regional spot market is unlikely to provide much relief because of limited availability due to a spurt in demand from Japan for power generation after a devastating earthquake crippled nuclear facilities last year.

The supply disruption has added to the rally, boosting spot premiums for March to a record. It could drive prices even higher — although any rise may be tempered by refinery maintenance in the second quarter.

Sudan on Sunday released vessels loaded with South Sudanese oil, but has yet to agree to more exports from the terminal.

The shutdown by South Sudan in protest has cut off supplies to equity holders China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), Malaysia’s Petronas and India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp.

“We expect some disruption in loading schedules with the production shutdown,” an official with one of the equity holders said. “We hope for a resolution soon.”

The heavy sweet grades — Nile and Dar Blend — produced in South Sudan are preferred in Japan for power production and by Chinese refineries. They are often blended to reduce sulphur content in fuel oil, a residue output from refining crude and mostly used for running ships, for sale to power utilities in markets such as Japan and Taiwan.

CHINA’S ALTERNATIVES

Overall, the Asia-Pacific region is net short of crude as output from aging fields in Indonesia and Vietnam declines and as producers divert output to meet rising domestic demand.

To make up for the loss from Iran, China has already been buying extra spot crude from Russia, West Africa, Middle East and also Vietnam in January and February.

“The disruption to crude imports from South Sudan has added to the reduction China has made in Iranian imports early in this year,” Roy Jordan, London-based analyst from FACTS Global Energy said. “That means it will have to look to other exporters in the Middle East and Atlantic Basin for replacement crudes.”

China has bought 10 percent more heavy sweet Angolan crude in March, pushing spot premiums for the highly acidic and heavy sweet Dalia — similar to Sudan’s Dar Blend in quality — to a premium from a discount, a trader said.

Australian heavy sweet grades are a good substitute for Sudan, but exports typically fall during the cyclone season every first quarter. Cyclone Iggy disrupted output last week as producers shut several oil fields offshore Western Australia.

China’s imports from Australia rose 42 percent in 2011 to 81,939 bpd, and gained 25 percent to 17,140 bpd from Vietnam.

China’s Unipec has increased spot imports of Russia’s ESPO to three cargoes a month while it recently bought February Urals crude as the arbitrage window opened.

Compounding problems for China is Japan’s additional demand for crude. The world’s third-largest oil consumer has been regularly snapping up the bulk of medium to heavy sweet crude from Vietnam and Indonesia, leaving little for the spot market.

JAPANESE DEMAND

Alternatives Japan may be looking for include Gabon’s Rabi Light crude and low-sulphur fuel oil, oil economist Osamu Fujisawa said. It has already started testing Rabi Blend, importing 600,000 to 1.2 million barrels a month from July.

Japan imported 48,847 bpd of Sudanese crude in the first 11 months of last year, up from 44,294 bpd in 2011. JX Nippon Oil & Energy and Mitsubishi Corp are the key importers.

Sudan is the second-largest supplier of sweet crude to Japan after Indonesia. Japan burns the oil at power plants.

FACTS Global Energy estimates Japanese crude purchases for use at power plants will be 200,000 to 300,000 bpd in the second quarter, rising from about 150,000 bpd now.

“Nile Blend is very popular for certain power plants in Japan as they form the baseload for thermal power generation,” a trader with a Japanese firm said. “It would be tough to replace the crude as any change in quality could affect the machinery,” he said.

Asia is importing record volumes of West African oil this year, rebuilding stocks after relatively low shipments in December, Reuters calculations showed.

A drop in Brent’s premium to Dubai to below $3 a barrel widened the arbitrage window, allowing more crude to flow from the Atlantic Basin to Asia.

“Overall, the Sudan volumes are not much in a global scale,” said Natalie Roberston, an analyst at ANZ. “But they are adding to the overall sentiment in a market worried about supply disruptions.”

 http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE80T04R20120130?sp=true

© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved

Tensions escalate over Sudan-South Sudan oil dispute

KHARTOUM – Tensions escalated between Sudan and South Sudan as the African Union’s (AU) efforts failed to settle the oil dispute that has engaged the two sides since last July when the south separated from the north.

Just one day after Khartoum said it had released three South Sudan’s oil ships held at Port-Sudan, Juba said it had halted oil pumping and would not resume it until an agreement with the north is reached.

“Crude oil pumping has been halted we will not resume the operation until a comprehensive agreement, settling all outstanding issues, is reached,” South Sudan’s Deputy Minister of Petroleum Elisabeth James told Xinhua Monday.

“The Addis Ababa negotiations, under the patronage of the AU, have failed to come to a settlement on the oil dispute. Therefore, we have decided to implement the decision of the Council of Ministers to stop the crude oil pumping,” she added.

The deputy minister reiterated that the South Sudan government is open to any solutions that are satisfactory for both sides, denying that there were political motives behind Juba’s adherence to reaching a comprehensive agreement before resuming oil pumping.

“The oil issue is legal and not political. We are looking for an agreement that tackles the difference over the fees set to transport the south’s oil through the pipelines of the north. This agreement should comply with the international standards,” she said.

She further downplayed Khartoum’s decision to release the oil ships, saying “this move is not enough to resolve the issue and we do not think it represents a good will initiative. For us, it is a right returned to their owners.”

The South Sudan government on January 20 decided to stop oil production after Khartoum started holding part of the south’s oil as compensation for what it calls Juba’s unpaid arrears.

South Sudan earlier also announced that it signed a framework agreement with Kenya to build an oil pipeline leading to the Kenyan port of Lamu, which would reduce its reliance on Sudan’s facilities.

Analysts said that there are the recent developments of the oil dispute are politically motivated and the external factors are not helpful in resolving the issue.

Mohamed Al-Nayer, a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua that “the South Sudan government may be seeking to escalate the oil issue and some powerful countries are supporting its stance.”

The south’s decision is clearly targeting the north and its economy and some people are instigating Juba not to agree with Khartoum, he noted.

“The recent round of negotiations in Addis Ababa has revealed that Juba is unwilling to end the oil dispute,” said the analyst, referring to Juba’s last-minute back down from an AU-brokered agreement.

After separating with South Sudan in July 2011, Sudan lost two thirds of its oil resources. The two sides have since been arguing about an oil-sharing deal.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/world/2012-01/30/content_14507285.htm

Sudan frees South Sudan’s oil tankers; dispute continues

JUBA/DUBAI | Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:52am EST

(Reuters) – Sudan released tankers loaded with South Sudanese oil that had been held at Port Sudan in a row over export transit fees, days after Khartoum seized crude from its new neighbor and offered it at a steeply discounted price.

Sudan’s Oil Minister Awad al-Jaz said the release came as part of efforts to reach an agreement with South Sudan on the transit fees, but so far “we don’t have any positive response from the other side.”

South Sudan has shut down oil output in protest at the seizing of the cargoes, and talks between the two to reach a settlement broke down over the weekend.

The former civil war foes have failed to agree the value of the fee landlocked South Sudan should pay to pump oil north by pipeline for export from Port Sudan.

“The four ships that were being detained were released yesterday at 5:00 p.m.,” South Sudan’s Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau said by telephone.

“They were carrying oil for Vitol and Sinopec.”

He added that 3.5 million barrels have been released but Sudan should now allow 5.4 million barrels to be lifted, indicating that the dispute was far from resolved.

“The ships are waiting,” said Dae. “If they want to negotiate in good faith with us they should allow us to come and lift it.”

The ships that have been released were already loaded and Sudan had held them from sailing. Separately, Sudan has sold off at least one tanker of crude seized from the South and has offered two other cargoes.

In addition to the three, at least seven tankers are still waiting at the port to lift December and January cargoes, raking up demurrage costs of $20,000-$22,000 per day, traders and shipbrokers said.

Two of the tankers that were freed were chartered by oil trading giant Vitol, an industry source told Reuters.

“The two tankers were freed on Sunday and they are carrying a total of 1.6 million barrels,” said the industry source, declining to be identified because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

Oil is the lifeline of both countries’ economies. The South controlled about 350,000 bpd of oil output when it became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war.

Oil provides about 98 percent of South Sudan’s income and is vital for developing an already poor country devastated by years of civil war.

China is the biggest buyer of oil from the two countries and the biggest investor in South Sudan’s oilfields.

(Reporting by Amena Bakr in DUBAI and Hereward Holland in JUBA; Editing by Manash Goswami)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/us-sudan-oil-idUSTRE80T0AQ20120130

Report: Sudanese army frees at least 14 kidnapped Chinese workers

By the CNN Wire Staff

January 30, 2012 — Updated 1031 GMT (1831 HKT)

The visit to Beijing by President Omar al-Bashir (L) last year was a sign of the growing ties between Sudan and China.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The workers are in good condition, the news report says
• It did not mention the fate of the other 56 workers who were also kidnapped
• The attack took place at a construction site in a remote area

(CNN) — The Sudanese army has freed at least 14 Chinese nationals who were kidnapped in the volatile South Kordofan state, the official Sudan News Agency said Monday.

The news agency quoted Ahmed Haroun, the state governor, as saying the workers were taken to neighboring North Kordofan and were in good condition.

The report did not mention the fate of the other 56 construction workers who militants had also captured when they attacked a construction site in a remote area Saturday.

At the time, Alsawarmi Khalid, spokesman for the Sudanese armed forces, blamed the attacks on the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement -North, a rebel force in the border region with neighboring South Sudan. Khalid said a total of 70 workers were kidnapped in the incident — a mix of local and foreign workers.

China’s Xinhua news agency confirmed the release, but reported that 17 — and not 14 — Chinese workers were evacuated to “safe places” by Sudanese forces. That leaves 12 Chinese workers unaccounted for, the Chinese embassy in Sudan told Xinhua.

It was unclear why the two official accounts varied in the number of Chinese nationals freed.

South Sudan became the world’s newest nation last year after decades of conflict with the north.

International concern has grown over the violence in South Kordofan and nearby Blue Nile states, which has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

The region is a Sudan territory, but straddles Sudan and South Sudan’s ethnic and political lines.

China is Sudan’s largest trading partner, while Sudan is China’s third-largest trading partner in Africa. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, trade between the two countries reached $8.63 billion in 2010, an increase of 35.1% compared to the previous year.

The close bilateral cooperation is mainly driven by oil exports from Sudan, which is among the top oil suppliers for China.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/30/world/africa/sudan-missing-workers/?hpt=hp_t2

EXCLUSIVE: 700 Sudan army officers warn President Bashir & Defense Minister Hussein against rush to war with south

January 29, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A group of 700 military officers from Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF) confronted president Omer Hassan al-Bashir and his defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein with several demands that focused on military and political reforms, Sudan Tribune is told.

FILE – Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (C) and Defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein (L) salutes at a military function in Khartoum (AFP)

Multiple army sources who all spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said that the officers included those stationed in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and other parts of the country.

The message was delivered last week to Bashir and Hussein during their briefing sessions with SAF senior army officers who listened to the pair calling on them to prepare for the possibility of a full-scale war with South Sudan.

But the sources said that the SAF officers at the briefing were all but appalled at the prospects of heading to war with Sudan’s southern neighbor given the state of the military at this point.

The officers called on Bashir and Hussein to urgently address the challenges faced by the SAF emphasizing that the army has been unable to decisively overcome the rebels in the border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

The Sudanese army is battling rebels from the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) in the two states since June 2011 in South Kordofan and September 2011 in Blue Nile. Khartoum persistently accuses Juba of providing aid to the rebels but South Sudan routinely denies the charge.

This week the second Vice-President of Sudan, Al-Haj Adam Youssef was quoted by local media as threatening to go after SPLM-N rebels even if they had to go all the way to Juba.

“If necessary, Juba is not far,” he told the paper during celebrations of Sudan’s independence in the central state of Al-Jezira.

SAF needs “tremendously huge efforts” in order to prepare for future dangers particularly at a time when there is talk about foreign intervention, Bashir and Hussein were told.

The officers also urged Bashir and Hussein combat “rampant” corruption within the army and gave an example of 200 battle tanks that were bought in early 2010 but most of it turned out to be defective and a large number had to be sent to neighboring countries for repairs.

They noted that several senior officers objected to the “subpar deal” involving these tanks before they were bought which led to the sacking of Hussein’s chief secretary Maj. General Al-Na’eem Khidir and other senior officers including Maj. General Ahmed Abdoon who headed the Nyala army division and Maj. General Al-Tayeb Mosbah of El-Fasher army division.

The SAF officers also implored on Bashir and Hussein to implement segregation between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the army so that the latter does not shoulder the mistakes of the NCP and become vulnerable to volatility of the Sudanese politics.

Furthermore, they said that is imperative that the system of government be reformed because the status quo jeopardizes the country’s national security.

One of the sources underscored that the current political climate in the form of tensions between the Islamists and the NCP has spread into the army but declined to provide details.

He described Bashir and Hussein as “rattled” by the officers’ complaints.

Eric Reeves, a researcher at Smith College who writes extensively on Sudan, believes oil is a major factor in this move.

“This may well be a dismayed response to the clear possibility that Khartoum never wanted to make a deal about oil revenues with Juba. Rather, the goal was to create a casus belli, by which the army would seize the oil regions of the South and restore all oil revenues to a northern economy that continues in a politically dangerous tailspin” he said.

This month a number of memos have surfaced allegedly sent by the Islamist base calling on the NCP to implement political reforms and fight corruption.

One of them was presented in late 2011 by Bashir’s adviser Ghazi Salah al-Deen in his capacity as the leader of the NCP parliamentary bloc.

The Sudanese president responded vaguely to some of the demands contained in Ghazi’s memo while saying that it is “premature” to address the others.

Sudan is facing a growing economic crisis that was aggravated by the secession of the oil-rich south which took with it 75% of the country’s crude reserves.

Since then, Sudan’s oil revenues, which used to make up 90 percent of the country’s exports and were the main source of hard currency inflows, have largely dried up.

The government has already banned many imported items to preserve its foreign currency supply.

The Sudanese pound lost a significant amount of its value against the dollar as a result and the black market has flourished despite government warnings.

Khartoum is trying to walk the fine line between the need to cut government spending and cutting subsidies on basic goods and petroleum products which they fear might trigger social unrest.

Last year the governor of Sudan’s central bank Mohamed Khair al-Zubeir said that fuel subsidies need to be removed because they are a huge burden on the economy.

“Subsidies are a big burden for the state. The biggest subsidy is for fuel,” al-Zubeir said, adding that a barrel of fuel was sold locally at $60 compared to a market price of $100.

“So far we didn’t notice the difference, subsidies were no problem because the country had oil … [but] we cannot pay this anymore,” he added.

The landlocked South Sudan has been in talks with Khartoum on the fair fee that should be assessed for using the north’s refineries and pipelines. It has been reported that Sudan asked for $32 per barrel for the service, something which South Sudan vehemently rejected saying it is excessive compared to international norms.

Sudan retaliated to the slow pace of talks and decided to seize part of South Sudan’s oil as payment in kind for the exporting service. Juba responded by shutting down its oil production.

(ST)

http://www.sudantribune.com/EXCLUSIVE-Sudan-army-officers-warn,41444

Sudan frees South Sudan’s oil tankers; dispute continues
Reuters
JUBA/DUBAI (Reuters) – Sudan released tankers loaded with South Sudanese oil that had been held at Port Sudan in a row over export transit fees, days after Khartoum seized crude from its new neighbor and offered it at a steeply discounted price.

Sudan-South Sudan Dispute Dominates African Summit
Voice of America (blog)
South Sudan has followed through on its threat and shut down all oil production as its dispute with Sudan shows no sign of resolution. The leaders of both countries held talks in Addis Ababa late last week on the sidelines of the annual gathering of …

Report: Sudanese army free 14 kidnapped Chinese workers
CNN International
By the CNN Wire Staff The visit to Beijing by President Omar al-Bashir (L) last year was a sign of the growing ties between Sudan and China. (CNN) — The Sudanese army has freed 14 Chinese nationals who were kidnapped in the volatile South Kordofan …

Ki Moon calls for peaceful resolution to Sudan oil row
Sudan Tribune
By Julius N. Uma January 30, 2012 (JUBA) — Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General on Sunday urged leaders in both Sudan and South Sudan to reach an agreement on how to share their oil wealth after series of counter accusations forced the …

Sudan oil crisis ‘threatens peace’
News24
Addis Ababa – South Sudan and Sudan could face a “major humanitarian crisis” if they fail to solve a running oil dispute, a top US envoy said on Sunday as African heads of state converged in Ethiopia’s capital for an African Union summit…

South Sudan clamps oil shutdown, seeks border deal
Business Recorder (blog)
South Sudan has fully shut down oil output in a row with Sudan over export transit fees and will only restart after a broader deal on issues including border security and the disputed region of Abyei, its oil minister said on Sunday…

Brent drops below $111/barrel; EU, Iran eyed
Reuters
… Tan | SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Brent crude fell on Monday as investors cautiously eyed a European Union summit for a resolution to the region’s debt crisis, but prices hovered near $111 per barrel on concerns over supply from Iran and South Sudan…

China says contact cut with workers held in Sudan
Reuters Africa
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s embassy in Sudan has lost contact with 29 Chinese construction workers held by rebels in the strife-troubled border state of South Kordofan, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The rebel Sudan People’s …

Supply concerns keep Brent above $US110
Sydney Morning Herald
Brent crude edged down on Monday as investors cautiously eyed a European Union summit for a resolution to the region’s debt crisis, but prices stayed above $US111 per barrel on concerns over supply from Iran and South Sudan. EU leaders are expected to …

The South Sudan dream is turning sour
The Guardian (blog)
It is now a year since the people of South Sudan voted overwhelmingly for independence from Khartoum. But the vision of a new era of peace and co-operation between north and south, endorsed at the time by President Omar al-Bashir and the southern …

South Sudan ethnic clashes claim 74 lives
Daily Nation
A May 2011 handout photo showing displaced South Sudanese waiting for relief supplies in Warrap State. Fresh fighting has claimed more than 74 lives as ethnic clashes continue to convulse the new country. PHOTO | AFP By MACHEL AMOS in Juba At least 74 …

AU Commission Chair Urges Sudan, South Sudan to Reach Agreement
Sudan Vision
The birth of South Sudan state was an indication of political maturity and wisdom of the leaders of the two states, Mr. Ping said, and called on the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to arrive at solutions for the outstanding issues…

SPLM-N Statement on the Captured Chinese Workers in South Kordofan State

Dear All,

Please find attached a statement concerning the Chinese workers in South Kordofan State.
Thanks
Anwar Elhaj
SPLMN Representative to the US

Press Statement- Chinese.doc 25K   View   Download

Statement

Sunday January 29^th, 2012

The SPLM-N is a national liberation movement that seeks democracy, just peace, equal citizenship and social justice. It has been attacked by the dictator General Omar al-Bashir who is indicted by the international criminal court and who displaced more than half a million citizens of Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, banned the SPLM-N, committed war crimes, and denies access to humanitarian assistance.

SPLM-N has nothing against China and the Chinese, and it is part of the forces that are looking for peace, stability, and co-existence worldwide. The leadership of the SPLM-N and I, the Secretary General, together with the SPLM-N Chairman are exerting the maximum effort to obtain accurate information from our forces in the field regarding the Chinese who were detained in Southern Kordofan. If it is SPLA-N forces that the Chinese citizens are with, be assured that they will be in safe hands and they will be released.

What we stand for before and after this incident are democracy and a just peace. This should be better understood by China and that the National Congress government of General Bashir is a government that will never deliver good relations between Sudan and China. They are massacring and committing war crimes against the Sudanese people and therefore they cannot sustain relations with any country in the world.

The interests of China and the international community are better served by the democratic forces in Sudan. We are right now in contact with Beijing through one of the SPLM-N’s associates in Beijing to assist in resolving this situation.

 

 Yasir Arman,

 Secretary General,

 Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North

January 29, 2012

A New Bible Translation Drops the Words ‘Father’ and ‘Son of God’ From The Bible Because These Terms are “Offensive to Muslims.”

 By Hussein Hajji Wario | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Jan 27, 2012

‘Father’ and ‘Son’ Ousted from the Trinity in New Bible Translations

A controversy is brewing over three reputable Christian organizations, which are based in North America, whose efforts have ousted the words “Father” and “Son” from new Bibles. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers are under fire for “producing Bibles that remove “Father,” “Son” and “Son of God” because these terms are offensive to Muslims.”

Concerned Christian missionaries, Bible translators, pastors, and national church leaders have come together with a public petition to stop these organizations. They claim a public petition is their last recourse because meetings with these organizations’ leaders, staff resignations over this issue and criticism and appeals from native national Christians concerned about the translations “have failed to persuade these agencies to retain “Father” and “Son” in the text of all their translations.”

Biblical Missiology, a ministry of Boulder, Colorado-based Horizon International, is sponsoring the petition.

The main issues of this controversy surround new Arabic and Turkish translations. Here are three examples native speakers give:

First, Wycliffe and SIL have produced Stories of the Prophets, an Arabic Bible that uses an Arabic equivalent of “Lord” instead of “Father” and “Messiah” instead of “Son.”

Second, Frontiers and SIL have produced Meaning of the Gospel of Christ , an Arabic translation which removes “Father” in reference to God and replaces it with “Allah,” and removes or redefines “Son.” For example, the verse which Christians use to justify going all over the world to make disciples, thus fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) reads, “Cleanse them by water in thename of Allah, his Messiahand his Holy Spirit” instead of “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Rev. Bassam Madany, an Arab American who runs Middle East Resources, terms these organization’s efforts as “a western imperialistic attempt that’s inspired by cultural anthropology, and not by biblical theology.”

Third, Frontiers and SIL have produced a new Turkish translation of the Gospel of Matthew that uses Turkish equivalents of “guardian” for “Father” and “representative” or “proxy” for “Son.” To Turkish church leader Rev. Fikret Böcek, “This translation is ‘an all-American idea‘ with absolutely no respect for the ‘sacredness’ of Scripture, or even of the growing Turkish church.”

SIL has issued a public response stating “all personnel subscribe to a statement of faith which affirms the Trinity, Christ’s deity, and the inspiration of Scripture.” However, in the same statement, which is similar to Wycliffe‘s, it claims “word-for-word translation of these titles would communicate an incorrect meaning (i.e. that God had physical, sexual relationships with Mary) [sic],” thus justifying substituting “Father” and “Son” in new translations. Calls and emails to Wycliffe and SIL to clarify their positions were not returned. Frontiers responded to calls with articles that critics have already dismissed as skirting omissions of “Father” and “Son” in new Bible translations.

http://news.yahoo.com/father-son-ousted-trinity-bible-translations-003300519.html

Job Vacancy at the Ministry of Interior:

All,

Please find attached a job vacancy at the Ministry of Interior, please forward the advert on to those whom might be interested in the position.

Please email Adhel Awan at adhel4@hotmail.com for more information.

Thanks,
Reec Akuak
Vice President

The South Sudanese Community, USA
Growth — Development — Community

202.656.TSSC (8772)
Direct/Cell: 202.596.6009
Fax: 202.280.1007

R.Akuak@TSSC.us
http://www.TSSC.us

Job Vacancy at the Deputy Minister of Interior’s Office.pdf