Press Release: Jonglei Peace Initiative

Jonglei Peace Initiative

For Immediate Release
January 22, 2012

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Washington, D.C. – Twenty-five South Sudanese diaspora community leaders from across North America gathered in Washington, DC January 21-22, 2012 and focused on helping bring peace to their native state of Jonglei in the new country of the Republic of South Sudan.

We are known as the Jonglei Peace Initiative (JPI) and include men and women from the Anyuak, Nuer, Murle, and Dinka people. We were joined by officials from the Embassy of South Sudan and international resource people. We have agreed to call ourselves JPI — USA.

After two days of deliberation, assessing the current context, and exploring ways to contribute toward a sustainable peace in Jonglei state and South Sudan, we issue the following:

WE CONCLUDED that the urgency and risk in Jonglei and South Sudan is extremely high and has the potential to:

Further entrench tribal tensions that are counterproductive to building the world’s newest nation.

Continue to result in the death and injury of innocent South Sudanese, including women and children.

Undermine the future of the new country of South Sudan’s and its economy by deterring investors and making peace through development impossible.

Create food insecurity by endangering farmers, cattle raisers and supply chains.

WE CALL for:

The Government of South Sudan, making use of its military and police and working in conjunction with the UNIMISS peacekeepers, to immediately create a disengagement and separation between fighting forces between tribal groups in Jonglei state and to assure all communities and citizens that they will be protected by the Government of South Sudan through the establishment of buffer zones and water points.

The youth warriors to immediately end all raiding, abductions, violence and destruction of their neighbors and their neighbors’ properties and return to their own lands so that a legitimate peace process can be initiated.

The placement of military and police forces near the water and toich lands of Jonglei to insure that renewed conflicts will not be allowed to escalate during the dry season and to provide a ceasefire environment that can create an opportunity for community leaders to mobilize people for a just and sustainable peace.

The President and Commander-in-Chief of South Sudan to make it clear that there will be strict military discipline and action will be taken against any deserters from the SPLA who seek to use their weapons to join raiding parties from their tribes in attacks on neighbors or who join militias which fight against the Government of South Sudan.

The UNIMISS forces, in their international mandate to protect civilians, be diligent in investigating any violent communal raids, gather credible evidence on the violations and violators, and turn that evidence over to the justice system of both the State and National governments of South Sudan for action so that the current environment of impunity can be transformed toward the rule of law and justice for all.

The full engagement in peace promotion of those who carry moral authority within all the Jonglei communities, including church leaders, chiefs, elders, women’s leaders, and youth leaders who are committed to peace. And the full engagement of the Sudanese Diaspora in supporting a just and lasting peace in Jonglei and South Sudan.

The full support of the international community and non-government organizations in:

relieving the suffering of the people of Jonglei who are in the midst of a humanitarian disaster caused by the cycles of conflict and revenge, and
funding, facilitating and supporting community, youth and government leaders who provide leadership for the communal peace process that must be comprehensive and must be fully implemented after it is agreed upon in conference.

The immediate planning of international donors and investors to be ready to work with communities for sustained development of all Jonglei communities, including roads and infrastructure, economic development, food and water resource management, the education of children, youth and adults, job creation, and the institution of good governance that includes the administration of the rule of law.

Since most of us are dual citizens of both the USA and Republic of South Sudan, we call on the law enforcement agencies of the USA to fully investigate and apply the laws of the USA to any situation where fundraising efforts may be done by individuals living in the US for the purposes of supporting tribal raids that result in terror for citizens in South Sudan and could even be supportive of genocide.

WE COMMIT to the following as the Jonglei Peace Initiative (JPI – USA):

We will stand against any individual Sudanese American who issues statements on the internet claiming to represent whole communities and calling for conflict rather than working for peace. If laws in the USA or Canada are violated by those individuals, we will support the effort of law enforcement agencies to uphold the laws, and we will personally seek to bring community pressure against such individuals while inviting them to turn from their ways and join the peace and reconciliation process.

We will send some of our own leaders during the coming months to Jonglei to work for peace among the youth and communities. We will go to the cattle camps to be with the youth.

We will work with chiefs, elders, church leaders, and women’s leaders to teach, preach, and advocate for peace, to listen to the stories of pain, to identify the issues that must be resolved for a just peace to be established, and to identify the long term development opportunities that can be the basis of a sustainable peace.

We will work with any and every agency of government, church, civil society and NGOS in South Sudan to help coordinate a peace process at both the communal and state levels that will lead within 2012 to a just peace, established by the communities themselves using our traditions, methodologies and rituals, and that can be implemented and sustained so that Jonglei will be ready for a major peace through development initiative.

We will work within the Sudanese diaspora, especially those who are from the state of Jonglei, to keep them informed of what is happening on the ground, to mobilize them for support of a just peace for all tribes in Jonglei, and to build support for investors and international donors to help the citizens of Jonglei to build peace through development that gives hope for all our communities, both now and in the years to come.

Once a stable ceasefire is in place, protective forces are insuring the security of the communities, and a communal peace process is established, we will support the mobilization of all the communities of Jonglei to warehouse their weapons in government or UN managed armories so that the destruction that our communities have experienced will become a thing of the past.

For Further Information:
JPI-USA Chairman:
Paul Mator Manyok
paul@paulandfriends.org
Phone: +1.615.300.1977

Jonglei: Twic East County Under Murle Attack

Report from Akuei

An estimated 2000 Murle militiamen, heavily armed and dressed in SPLA uniforms went on the rampage yesterday in Twic East count burning villages and farms. The attack is continuing. Unknown number of people, especially women and children, the old, and the sick have been killed. In addition, around 5000 or more herds of cattle are reportedly taken. Stay turned for more information.

Update 1:
Just for clarification: I was on the phone with Dau de Garang a while ago and he informed me that people are safe so far. What happened was that a column of a well armed uniformed Murle fighters burned down a number of empty villages in northern part of Twic East and made away with alot of cattle.

There was an attempt by youths from Duk county, Wernyol payam and Panyagoor to retrieve the cattle but they were outnumbered and outgunned; therefore, the pursuit was called off.

As I wrote this note, most villages from the counties of Duk and Twic East are deserted and nearly 80 – 90 thousand people displaced. Majority of the people are now in Toch area.

Warm wishes,

Akuëi

US, China Urges South Sudan, Sudan to Settle Oil Dispute Peacefully.

(AFP) – 

WASHINGTON — The United States urged Sudan and South Sudan to redouble efforts to resolve a crisis over fees for oil transfers and said it supported a proposal by African Union mediators.

The statement by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland came a day after South Sudan ordered a shutdown of its oil production because Sudan has seized oil transiting its territory.

She said Washington supports the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel’s roadmap for an agreement to resolve the crisis and set a timeline for a final oil and financial agreement between the two countries.

“We further urge the parties to redouble their efforts to reach an agreement on permanent oil and financial arrangements as the impending crisis threatens not only the flow of oil but also long term damage to infrastructure,” she said.

“Therefore an agreement that addresses the current crisis has become necessary and is in the interests of both countries,” Nuland said.

She said resumption of normal oil shipments was critical to stabilize the economies of both countries.

The South split from Sudan in July, taking with it 75 percent of the country’s oil production of 470,000 barrels per day, but despite its oil wealth, the new state of South Sudan lacks the infrastructure to refine and export oil.

Crucial facilities including a pipeline and Red Sea export terminal remain in Sudan, leaving the two states arguing over how much the south should pay to use the infrastructure.

Sudanese authorities recently stopped two ships loaded with 650,000 barrels of South Sudanese oil from leaving the export terminal because they did not pay the port fees, according to Khartoum’s foreign ministry.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

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China Urges Calm Talk for Sudan, South Sudan

By SIMON HALL

BEIJING—China on Saturday urged the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to remain calm and restrained and resolve their differences over oil exports through “negotiation at an early date.”

“Oil is the economic lifeline shared by Sudan and South Sudan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Weimin said in remarks posted on the ministry’s website, adding that the Beijing government “hopes that the two governments will fulfill their commitment to protecting the legal rights of Chinese enterprises and those of other partners.”

The ministry noted that on Friday the government of South Sudan had ordered the gradual halt of all oil production due to a disagreement with Sudan over fees for moving South Sudan’s oil via Sudan’s pipelines and harbors.

“We urge the two sides to remain calm and restrained, avoid taking any extreme action and continue working together with mediation by the African Union and other parties to resolve their dispute through negotiation at an early date and to benefit the two countries and their peoples,” Mr. Liu said.

South Sudan, which broke away from Sudan and became an independent country in July 2011 after decades of civil war, has accused Sudan of disrupting its oil exports and of stealing some of its oil. The two countries produce about 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day, approximately 75% of it South Sudan’s.

State-owned China National Petroleum Corp., India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd., or Petronas, account for around 90% of the combined oil production in the two countries. The Chinese company is the largest foreign investor in the two countries’ energy sectors, and China takes about half of their oil exports.

Official customs data show China’s imports of oil from the two have ranged between 200,000 barrels and 280,000 barrels a day in recent months. The 2010 average was 253,000 barrels.

On Tuesday, South Sudan accused Sudan of preventing the export of its oil, which had been piped to Port Sudan in the north, and of loading some of it onto Sudanese-flagged ships.

Write to Simon Hall at simon.hall@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577174591034411010.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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Report: South Sudan says it is suing Sudan over “looting” of its oil

KHARTOUM, Sudan — South Sudan is suing Sudan for “looting” its oil and will no longer export crude through its northern neighbor, a Sudanese daily reported Sunday, citing officials, in the latest spat between the two governments over the coveted resource in the newly-independent southern nation.South Sudan Oil Minister Marial Benjamin said the lawsuit was filed in “specialized international tribunals against Sudan and some companies” that bought the crude,” Al-Sahafa daily said. Benjamin did not provide additional details on the venue or when the lawsuit was filed.

The case is the latest development in a long-simmering fight between the two governments over the oil they share, but which sits largely within the borders of the newly-independent South Sudan.On Jan. 17, South Sudan Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau said Sudan is diverting about 120,000 barrels of oil pumped daily from the south daily, a move the northern government said stemmed from the unpaid transit fees for the oil carried in pipelines from the south to export terminals in its territory. The two sides have been unable to resolve the dispute.

South Sudan’s cabinet affairs minister, Deng Alor, said that his country had halted pumping crude through Sudan and would begin building a pipeline across east Africa that would allow them to export the oil from Kenya. The project would take about a year, he told Al-Sahafa.

“Our economy will not be affected by this step,” he said, adding that South Sudan had enough in cash reserves to sustain it for five years. Even if the economy was to be affected, it would be preferable to the “looting” taking place by Sudan, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The Khartoum government downplayed the potential impact of the move by the south, with Sudanese State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Amin Hassan Omar saying that the oil currently held in pipelines would cover a considerable portion of the debts owed by the south.

The suspension of oil production is a “tactical move that will not last long,’ he told Al-Sahafa.

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

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/report-south-sudan-says-it-is-suing-sudan-over-looting-of-its-oil/2012/01/22/gIQAhJxHIQ_story.html

Report: South Sudan Sues Khartoum Over Oil

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KHARTOUM, Sudan January 22, 2012, 08:44 am ET

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — South Sudan is suing Sudan for “looting” its oil and will no longer export crude through its northern neighbor, a Sudanese daily reported Sunday, citing officials, in the latest spat between the two governments over the coveted resource in the newly-independent southern nation.

South Sudan Oil Minister Marial Benjamin said the lawsuit was filed in “specialized international tribunals against Sudan and some companies” that bought the crude,” Al-Sahafa daily said. Benjamin did not provide additional details on the venue or when the lawsuit was filed.

The case is the latest development in a long-simmering fight between the two governments over the oil they share, but which sits largely within the borders of the newly-independent South Sudan.

On Jan. 17, South Sudan Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau said Sudan is diverting about 120,000 barrels of oil pumped daily from the south daily, a move the northern government said stemmed from the unpaid transit fees for the oil carried in pipelines from the south to export terminals in its territory. The two sides have been unable to resolve the dispute.

South Sudan’s cabinet affairs minister, Deng Alor, said that his country had halted pumping crude through Sudan and would begin building a pipeline across east Africa that would allow them to export the oil from Kenya. The project would take about a year, he told Al-Sahafa.

“Our economy will not be affected by this step,” he said, adding that South Sudan had enough in cash reserves to sustain it for five years. Even if the economy was to be affected, it would be preferable to the “looting” taking place by Sudan, he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The Khartoum government downplayed the potential impact of the move by the south, with Sudanese State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Amin Hassan Omar saying that the oil currently held in pipelines would cover a considerable portion of the debts owed by the south.

The suspension of oil production is a “tactical move that will not last long,’ he told Al-Sahafa.

 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=145597723

South Sudan accuses Khartoum of ‘looting’

A soldier stands next to the infrastructure of a field processing facility in Unity State, South Sudan. Photo/AFP

By MWAURA KIMANI

Posted  Sunday, January 22  2012 at  15:57

IN SUMMARY

Why the divorce between the two countries has continued to be frosty, months later
· Juba and Khartoum separated in July 2011.

· Blue Nile became the scene of an armed conflict between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N in September 2011, three months after a similar conflict erupted in South Kordofan state, mainly in the Nuba Mountains.
· Khartoum accuses Juba of supporting the rebel groups in a proxy war over the control of Abyei area and other disputed border regions.

· Juba accuses Khartoum of backing the rebel groups in the South Sudan to undermine the political stability in the newly independent republic.

Plans by South Sudan to build an alternative pipeline through Kenya are expected to acquire fresh urgency in coming weeks as Juba shops for a route to export its oil following the closure of its current transport facility.

Juba on Friday announced it had decided to shut down the oil pipeline that runs through North Sudan to the export terminal at Port Sudan on the Red Sea, citing endless row with Khartoum.

Information minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the decision was reached at a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir on Friday and followed the recent failed talks in Addis Ababa.

South Sudan accused its northern neighbour of imposing a “per barrel penalty for secession.”

South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan last July, is entirely dependent on oil revenues to meet 98 per cent of her budgetary obligations.

But Petroleum and Mining minister Stephen Dhieu said the government will adapt “new measures to deal with the new situation” and insisted his country could “also exist without oil.

We are able to run government affairs for the next 18 months without oil revenue.”

Mr Dhieu said there are only two conditions that may necessitate the reopening of the pipeline: “Either Khartoum accepts a fair deal with us and accept our offer by settling the financial proposal or we pay them a transit fee which wil not be more than $1 per barrel.”
South Sudan has been paying about $7 per barrel for transportation of its oil through Sudan.

Khartoum wants Juba to pay additional transportation fee of $32 per barrel, including a $22.8 transit fee. South Sudan has rejected the demand, calling it “looting in broad daylight.”

The shutting down of the pipeline, analysts warned, could worsen the increasingly frosty relations between Juba and Khartoum, putting East African Community States — which have been keen to prevent Sudan and South Sudan from sliding into full-blown war — in a tight spot.

Most EAC countries want to see South Sudan join the trading bloc giving to the resource offering it will be bringing on the table.

In crucial oil talks held last week, South Sudan adopted a hardline stance, opting to shut down the facility in two weeks. Juba has accused the North of confiscating oil shipments valued at $214 million while in transit.

This move will increase the pressure on Kenya and South Sudan to hasten construction of an alternative pipeline through Lamu.

Juba officials see the link to the Kenya Coast as more cost-effective than paying the transport and refinery fees being demanded by Khartoum. The dispute over oil and the announcement of the planned shutdown will also come as a shock for China, whose companies are deeply involved in production and logistics infrastructure.

China also consumes more than 75 per cent of the oil exported from Sudan, with the two countries together producing half a million barrels of oil daily.

The closing down of the pipeline means the flow of oil exports to China will be disrupted.

The Asian giant, with so much at stake, is thus likely to initiate diplomatic initiatives to end the stalemate and secure the transit route.

“Resources have driven instability and will continue to shape the political, social and economic character of South Sudan.

The assumption of greater oil sector responsibility will bring changes and an opportunity to revisit contracts and operating standards; it may also prompt new investment,” said the Brussels-based International Crisis Group in a report on Sudan.

Should Kenya and South Sudan opt to fast track the construction of the link to Lamu, this will spark a race among foreign governments with the financial muscle to develop infrastructure needed to export the commodity.

The project includes construction of an oil refinery and sea port in Lamu, a 1,400 kilometre oil pipeline that will link Juba, the South Sudanese capital to Lamu port and construction of a new Mombasa-Kampala standard gauge railway line.

But building a new pipeline will take very long.

“Such a large project would take no less than four years to complete, and this is why it is important that bridging agreements for oil exports and products supply are soberly negotiated between Sudan and South Sudan,” said George Wachira, director of Petroleum Focus Consultants.

Heavy investment is also being made in the 1,130 kilometre road that links Nairobi to Juba to cut the more than 26 hours it currently takes to cover the distance. The combined cost of the projects is estimated at $10 billion.

The other option that was being touted was to connect South Sudan with the pipeline that is planned to bring Ugandan oil to the Kenyan port.

But building a new pipeline will take very long.

“Such a large project would take no less than four years to complete, and this is why it is important that bridging agreements for oil exports and products supply are soberly negotiated between Sudan and South Sudan,” said George Wachira, director of Petroleum Focus Consultants.

A recent ICG report said the South’s search for an alternative transport corridor to reduce its dependence on the North had opened an opportunity for Kenya to attract billions of dollars in fresh infrastructure investment and an advantage in the scramble for foreign direct investment in East Africa.

Even after secession from the North, South Sudan continues to rely heavily on Port Sudan to take its key export, oil, to the global market. Sudan and South Sudan have since separation in July 2011 been locked in a row over sharing oil revenues after Juba took two-thirds of output.

The inability of the two countries to hammer out a fair commercial arrangement has meant South Sudan has not obtained full benefits from its crude oil exports, while Sudan has missed out on a fair commercial return on its oil export infrastructure.

Failure to reach an agreement between Juba and Khartoum over a transit fee is said to have prompted the latter to seize part of the oil as compensation.

Khartoum has been demanding $23 per barrel transported through the pipeline while Juba has offered $1.
Additional Reporting by Machel Amos in Juba

 http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/South+Sudan+accuses+Khartoum+of+looting++/-/2558/1311942/-/item/2/-/qkxqm0/-/index.html

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