Archive for January 27, 2012


murdered child

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. South Sudan, a country twice the size of UK, and population estimated at less than 10 million, is not ripe for abortion.

Abortion is illegal in South Sudan and any organization or individual promoting abortion is promoting an illegality. However, despite what the law says and the knowledge that abortion is illegal in South Sudan, Marie Stopes International (MSI) opened a clinic in Juba (Hai Negli Area, East of Juba University) in July 2010. The opening ceremony was a low key event, intentionally designed not to attract media attention as it was soon after they had been kicked out of Khartoum. Their assets, including brand new cars, were taken by Humanitarian Commission (HAC) and all staffs paid six months’ salary to disappear and not talk to the media.

Internationally, MSI is known to provide abortions especially in countries where abortion is legal (UK, South Africa etc). On its official website in the UK, MSI describes itself and the kind of services it offer to the clients:

“Marie Stopes International is the UK’s leading provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare services. Our nationwide network of sexual health clinics see over 100,000 men and women each year who come to us for information, advice and professional care. We are committed to providing all the help you need to make informed choices about your health. We ensure that there is no wait for appointments and that our centres are safe, friendly, and comfortable places to visit. Our services include: Contraception, Unplanned pregnancy counseling, Abortion information and advice, Help for women needing abortions, Abortion pill and other treatment options, Vasectomy information and vasectomy procedure, Female sterilization, Health screening for men and women, Company health screening and STI testing.”

Even in countries where abortion is illegal, the practice continues but is disguised as provision of Family planning services. That is how they took root in Juba, South Sudan and in Khartoum previously.

Taking the case of MSI Juba Clinic for instance, immediately after launching, 16 staffs were recruited to do underground mobilization, targeting young girls at the University of Juba and its environs. The message was clear: tell them there are family planning services and other services like those in neighboring countries (In Uganda and Kenya, MSI is known for this practice and they were targeting those who could have heard about it such as returning refugees).

Realizing the targets were not being met, MSI decided to recruit and bring in a new country director, one who had the credentials of increasing sales in record time. And this time the sales were measured in terms of the highest number of abortions in the shortest time possible (year one target was 1500).

Deaths:

Hardly a year into the operations, the first victim of the ‘safe abortion’ was recorded. However, the case had to be killed without being picked up by the media and the police. The family based in Ethiopia was paid and all expenses related to hospitalization and burial catered for by MSI.

Shortly thereafter, another case arose. A man who was certain that his wife was pregnant came back from Yambio only to find that the wife was no longer pregnant. Upon severe battering, the wife admitted that she had procured an abortion at MSI clinic in Juba. The man had to be paid to kill the story, and thus, a high delegation was sent from London since they were getting concerned that their young project might go the Khartoum way (In reference to how they were kicked out of Khartoum)

Late last year (2011), the third victim was a young girl probably in high school. The pregnancy was more than 12 weeks and the doctor on duty refused to perform the operation. He was sacked for this but the saddest part was that the young girl passed away.

Malpractices:

Using the NGO tag, MSI is freely getting supplies from UNFPA, MSH and Ministry of health in Juba. As you can see, Family planning commodities are given to them freely and instead of providing free services as it should be, the commodities end up being sold to the poor victims!

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU):

MOU with the national Ministry of health and the State Ministry of Health: In order to get the MOUs signed with the government as is the norm in Juba, long lofty letters and communication is sent back and forth to London to ensure nothing sensitive passes or can be picked up by the government authorities. If only the government bodies were to do due diligence then the real business of the clinic could have been un-earthed.

Smuggling of Abortion Drugs:

Abortion drugs which are not registered in Juba find their way through parcels and staff hand bags. Any staff travelling to London or from London will be delivering of picking orders. Since they know that the scanning at Juba International Airport is not serious, they pass scot free and duty and tax free!

Training of Staff:

Capacity building is one of the core pillars of any programme and true to that MSI ensures the staffs are taken out of Juba especially to Kenya, Ghana and South Africa where they can get many women coming for abortion to practice. The flip side is, instead of focusing on Family planning as indicated in the visas, the whole two weeks training is on abortion and those missing the real benefit to the deserving communities. It would be worth money to train midwives to improve the maternal mortality situation rather than focus on abortions.

Incriminating Documents:

Documents in our possession indicate clearly the objectives of the clinic. To protect the operations, most documents are marked classified or confidential. These are never shared with outsiders. In the documents, you can clearly see what is written (different words are used to cover up the real deal, i.e. MSP and MSMP: Basically Abortions without medical assistance and with medical assistance respectively).

8 attachmentsDownload all attachments

Annex Three External Relations Guidance Summary 29 July 2011.docx Annex Three External Relations Guidance Summary 29 July 2011.docx
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Copy of South Sudan Logframe, Workplan & KPIs 08 11 11.xlsx Copy of South Sudan Logframe, Workplan & KPIs 08 11 11.xlsx
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Country Design South Sudan Short - Dr Baba Final.docx Country Design South Sudan Short – Dr Baba Final.docx
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Interview questions for clinical staff.docx Interview questions for clinical staff.docx
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Interview Schedule for clinical Staff.docx Interview Schedule for clinical Staff.docx
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PMDUP Start Up Guidelines 29 July 2011-1.doc PMDUP Start Up Guidelines 29 July 2011-1.doc
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Result Scan-Juba November 2011.xls Result Scan-Juba November 2011.xls
399K View Open as a Google spreadsheet Download
Revised order form-MSI-SS.xls Revised order form-MSI-SS.xls
302K View Open as a Google spreadsheet Download

Interviews and Recruitment:

Having operated for one year without being un-earthed, the strategy is to move to other good areas (potential business). The major towns identified so far are Torit, Nimule, Yambio, Yei, Kajo Keji, and possibly Mundri.

When staffs are being recruited, the only thing that matters is the pro-abortion answer. For example, even if you are the most qualified candidate but you are against abortion, then you have no chance of being recruited. Due to lack of adequate job opportunities in South Sudan, most people would grudgingly accept that they can perform abortions only to realize that it is a bloody and murderous affair.

According to one of the providers: “I saw light after being presented with a case where the child came out still alive, I went home, confessed to a priest and promised myself never to be involved again.” That’s how she left working for MSI. Her contract was terminated immediately.

The Big Question is….

The big and urgent question is: for how long will this carnage continue? Or if it’s the best thing to have ever happened for our girls and women, then let the government openly announce that they want to, or have already, legalize abortion. In that case, let the MSI clinic and other clinics operate freely and competitively!

The citizens of South Sudan, as well as the government, must be made aware of the illegal activities of MSI in Juba. The government must wake up and declare which side it is on, MSI or the law!! If the law had changed, then that should be made explicitly clear to all citizens of our country so that there should be accompanying laws to safeguard and protect the lives of our womenfolk at the MSI clinics and to punish any negligence and cover-ups going on there.

The simple, yet the fundamental, question is this: under whose (and what) law are MSI clinics operating? South Sudanese must know because their love ones are dying under mysterious circumstances, all under the nose of a seemingly dysfunctional government in Juba and beyond the reach of the law!

Surely, South Sudanese deserve better than this!!

Dennis is a concerned citizen of South Sudan from Juba.

First, They Came for the Catholics

Michelle Malkin’s column is released once a week.

Michelle MalkinBy Michelle Malkin | Michelle Malkin – 

President Obama and his radical feminist enforcers have had it in for Catholic medical providers from the get-go. It’s about time all people of faith fought back against this unprecedented encroachment on religious liberty. First, they came for the Catholics. Who’s next?

This weekend, Catholic bishops informed parishioners of the recent White House edict forcing religious hospitals, schools, charities and other health and social service providers to provide “free” abortifacient pills, sterilizations and contraception on demand in their insurance plans — even if it violates their moral consciences and the teachings of their churches.

NARAL, NOW, Ms. Magazine and the Feminist Majority Foundation all cheered the administration’s abuse of the Obamacare law to ram abortion down pro-life medical professionals’ throats. Femme dinosaur Eleanor Smeal gloated over the news that the administration had rejected church officials’ pleas for compromises: “At last,” she exulted, the left’s goal of “no-cost birth control” for all had been achieved.

As always, tolerance is a one-way street in the Age of Obama. “Choice” is in the eye (and iron fist) of the First Amendment usurper.

Like the rising number of states who have revolted against the individual health care mandate at the ballot box and in the courts, targeted Catholics have risen up against the Obamacare regime. Arlington (Va.) Bishop Paul Loverde didn’t mince words, calling the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services order “a direct attack against religious liberty. This ill-considered policy comprises a truly radical break with the liberties that have underpinned our nation since its founding.” Several bishops vowed publicly to fight the mandate.

Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette, Mich., asserted plainly: “We cannot — we will not — comply with this unjust law.”

It’s not just rabid right-wing politicos defying the Obama machine. Pro-life Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania denounced the “wrong decision.” Left-leaning Bishop Robert Lynch threatened “civil disobedience” in St. Petersburg, Fla., over the power grab. Lefty Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne wrote that Obama “botched” the controversy and “threw his progressive Catholic allies under the bus” by refusing to “balance the competing liberty interests here.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney blithely denied on Tuesday that “there are any constitutional rights issues” involved in the brewing battle. Yet, the Shut Up and Hand Out Abortion Pills order undermines a unanimous Supreme Court ruling issued just last week upholding a religious employer’s right to determine whom to hire and fire. And two private colleges have filed federal suits against the government to overturn the unconstitutional abortion coverage decree.

Hannah Smith, senior counsel at the nonprofit law firm The Becket Fund, which is representing the schools, boiled it down for Bloomberg News: “This is not really about access to contraception. The mandate is about forcing these religious groups to pay for it against their beliefs.”

How did we get here? The first salvo came in December 2010, when the American Civil Liberties Union pushed HHS and its Planned Parenthood-championing secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions in violation of their core moral commitment to protecting the lives of the unborn.

The ACLU called for a litigious fishing expedition against Catholic hospitals nationwide that refuse to provide “emergency” contraception and abortions to women. In their sights: Devout Phoenix Catholic Bishop Thomas Olmsted, who revoked the Catholic status of a rogue hospital that performed several direct abortions, provided birth control pills and presided over sterilizations against the church’s ethical and religious directives for health care.

The ACLU and the feminists have joined with Obama to threaten and sabotage the First Amendment rights of religious-based health care entities. The agenda is not increased “access” to health care services. The ultimate goal is to shut down health care providers — Catholic health care institutions employ about 540,000 full-time workers and 240,000 part-time workers — whose religious views cannot be tolerated by secular zealots and radical social engineers.

Is it any surprise their counterparts in the “Occupy” movement have moved from protesting “Wall Street” to harassing pro-life marchers in Washington, D.C., and hurling condoms at Catholic school girls in Rhode Island? Birds of a lawless, bigoted feather bully together.

Michelle Malkin is the author of “Culture of Corruption: Obama and his Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks & Cronies” (Regnery 2010). Her e-mail address is malkinblog@gmail.com.

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM

http://news.yahoo.com/first-came-catholics-080000916.html


Published: Jan. 26, 2012 

JUBA, South Sudan, Jan. 26 (UPI) — South Sudan, born six months ago, says it’s shutting down more than 900 oil wells after accusing its former masters in Khartoum of stealing its oil piped north for export.

The shutdown is a bold, some might say almost suicidal, move by the world’s newest state, which depends on oil for 98 percent of state revenue.

But it reflects the frustration and anger in the south at what is widely seen as the Machiavellian machinations of Khartoum to sabotage the breakaway state that sits on 75 percent of Sudan’s oil.

The dispute could trigger new violence. The Financial Times said “the reduction in supply may prompt a rise in global prices” amid Iranian threats to close the export outlet from the Persian Gulf.

The shutdown ordered Monday by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir sharply heightened the tension with north Sudan after acrimonious talks on how to divide oil revenue, vital to both states, collapsed.

Sudan has reserves of 6.6 billion barrels and is rated the third largest producer in sub-Saharan Africa after Angola and Nigeria. The two Sudans produce 460,000 barrels per day, with the greater part by the south.

But landlocked South Sudan can only export via pipelines running through the north to Sudan’s only terminal at Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

Oil is the core of the dispute that threatens the existence of the infant state, which was established July 9, 2011, after a landslide vote for secession in a referendum.

The poll was conducted under a 2005 peace treaty that ended a civil war that began in 1955 and took the lives of more than 2 million people.

Khartoum has demanded fees of $32 per barrel for use of the pipelines and the terminal. South Sudan says that’s extortionate and has offered $1 a barrel as part of a multimillion-dollar compensation package for seceding.

The south says it was left with no option but to shut down oilfields after Khartoum unilaterally sold southern oil worth $815 million.

The north said it seized the oil in lieu of transit fees it said the southern government hasn’t paid since secession.

The halt in production leaves both north and south in a precarious economic situation.

The south has no other resources it can fall back on and needs oil revenue to pay for its drive to build an economic and social infrastructure in the impoverished region, where there are only about 50 miles of paved road and few schools.

The north is also under growing economic pressure. In the final decade before separation, “oil production fed a boom in consumer spending and services concentrated around Khartoum,” the Financial Times reported.

“But the government was ill-prepared for the 75 percent drop in revenues from oil when the south voted for independence and took most of the country’s reserves with it in July.”

Since then, the north’s currency has nosedived 60 percent on the black market, alongside a decline in foreign currency inflows.

“Annual inflation reached 21 percent in September 2011 but the price of some basic foodstuffs such as sorghum, a staple food, have more than doubled, ramping up social tension,” the Financial Times observed.

“The government is definitely worried,” said Ibrahim Ghandour, political secretary of the north’s ruling National Congress Party.

“They’ve been quelling protests with violence, like before, and with large numbers of arrests.”

Khartoum argues that by 2015 it will have lost $15 billion with the secession of the south. The International Monetary Fund puts the figure at $5 billion.

The south’s lead negotiator, Pagan Allum, told the Financial Times the Muslim Arab regime in Khartoum had plundered the Christian and animist south for centuries.

He said Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement government in the southern capital of Juba may demand Khartoum pay for oil revenue over which it claims the north has “cheated the south” since the 2005 peace pact.

The oil shutdown came a day after South Sudan and neighboring Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding to build a new pipeline to Lamu on the Indian Ocean.

Allum said another possibility is running a pipeline through Ethiopia to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

But both projects, if they take off, will take years to reach fruition.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/01/26/Angry-South-Sudan-shuts-down-900-oil-wells/UPI-60331327611953/#ixzz1khdZtLjt

South Sudan To Continue Oil Shutdown; Talks End Without Agreement
Wall Street Journal
LONDON (Dow Jones)–South Sudan will press ahead with its shutdown of oil production after negotiations with Sudan ended without agreement, David Kong, deputy of mission at South Sudan’sembassy in Ethiopia, told Dow Jones Newswires on Friday.
SD’s Generosity Helps South Sudan
KELOLAND TV
He’s bringing the generosity of South Dakota into South Sudan. Whenever pilot Moses Joknhial II flies himself into South Sudan, the people in his hometown have the mistaken impression that he’s a jet-setting millionaire. “They think that I’m the hero, 

KELOLAND TV
Sudan Facilitates Humanitarian Aid in South Kordofan and Blue Nile
Sacramento Bee
By Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2012 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The humanitarian crisis in South Kordofan and Blue Nile is an expected, logical and inevitable consequence of the war waged by the rebels of the South Sudan 
S. Sudan oil shutdown continues after talks fail
Reuters
By Yara Bayoumy and Aaron Maasho | ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The presidents of Sudan andSouth Sudan failed Friday to resolve an oil dispute that has led to the shutdown of the South’s crude output and threatened both countries’ economies.
Kenya, South Sudan ink oil pipeline agreement
Coastweek
NAIROBI, (Xinhua) — Kenya and South Sudan governments have signed an agreement that will allow for the construction of an oil pipeline connecting the two countries. A statement from Kenya ‘s Prime Minister’s office issued here on Wednesday said the 
Angry South Sudan shuts down 900 oil wells
Outcome Magazine
JUBA, South Sudan, Jan. 26 (UPI) — South Sudan, born six months ago, says it’s shutting down more than 900 oil wells after accusing its former masters in Khartoum of stealing its oil piped north for export. The shutdown is a bold, some might say 

World Map of Social Networks Relative to Facebook

Posted: January 27, 2012 by PaanLuel Wël Media Ltd. in Socio-Cultural


South Sudan's President Salva Kiir arrives at the the 20th Extraordinary Summit of IGAD Heads of state meeting in Addis AbabaSouth Sudan’s President Salva Kiir arrives at the the 20th Extraordinary Summit of IGAD Heads of state meeting in Addis Ababa (NOOR KHAMIS, REUTERS / January 27, 2012)
Aaron Maasho and Hereward HollandReuters1:12 p.m. CST, January 27, 2012
NAIROBI/PALOUGE, South Sudan (Reuters) – South Sudan’s top negotiator said his country would complete an oil production shutdown by Saturday, after Sudan and South Sudan failed to agree on a deal to end an oil crisis.Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia.The two discussed a deal that “would have frozen the situation and reverses the unilateral actions that had been taken by both,” a source close to the talks told Reuters.But Pagan Amum told reporters in Addis Ababa: “Tomorrow the 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 bpd in November, to protest against Sudan seizing some southern shipments at the northern port of Port Sudan in a dispute over pipeline fees.Both countries depend heavily on oil and have put forward widely differing figures for a possible transit fee. Sudan has publicly proposed $36 per barrel, while South Sudan has listed figures under $1 per barrel.The main operator Petrodar expects to close the key blocks 3 and 7, officials said on Friday. Petrodar is a consortium comprising mainly Chinese firms China National Petroleum Co (CNPC), Sinopec and Malaysian firm Petronas. Analysts estimate its total oil output from South Sudan at 250,000 bpd.

“We have shut down almost around 250 (wells). Remaining are 390 oil wells. The program is expected to finish in three more days. Maybe on 30 or 31 of this month all oil wells in Ada, Gumri, Moleta and Palouge will be shut down,” Hago Bakheed Mahmoud, field operation manager for Petrodar, told reporters at the Palouge oil fields.

He said current output was still between 145,000 and 150,000 barrels a day, adding that the company could resume production within three to four days. Blocks 3 and 7 provide much of South Sudan’s output.

Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said the shutdown was going to plan.

“The shutdown is going well,” Dhieu Dau told reporters during a visit to the Palouge oil field in Upper Nile state. “Now 50 percent of the wells are off,” he said, without saying whether this was referring to only Upper Nile fields or the whole country.

He spoke after the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan had met at the African Union in Addis Ababa.

He said Khartoum may have diverted some oil from the fields which lay on the southern side of the joint border to feed its refinery in Khartoum.

There was no immediate comment from Sudan which has said it was seizing an unspecified amount of southern oil to use for its refineries in a dispute over pipeline transit fees.

Sudan has also sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at millions of dollars discount to the official price charged by the South and is offering more, industry sources have said.

(Reporting by Hereward Holland; writing by Ulf Laessing editing by Keiron Henderson)

Petrodar sees its S.Sudan oil shutdown complete soon
Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:49pm GMT

PALOUGE, South Sudan, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Chinese-Malaysian oil consortium Petrodar plans to shut down South Sudan’s oil blocks 3 and 7, completing the shut down of its own oil output in the country within around three days, a senior executive said on Friday.

“We have shut down almost around 250 (wells). Remaining are 390 oil wells. The program is expected to finish in three more days. Maybe on 30 or 31 of this month all oil wells in Ada, Gumri, Moleta and Palouge will be shut down,” Hago Bakheed Mahmoud, field operation manager for Petrodar, told reporters at the Palouge oil fields.

He said current output was still between 145,000 and 150,000 barrels a day, adding that the company could resume production within three to four days. Blocks 3 and 7 provide much of South Sudan’s output.

South Sudan is shutting down its oil production, last put by officials at 350,000 bpd in November, to protest against Sudan seizing some southern shipments at a northern port in a dispute over pipeline fees.

Petrodar is a consortium comprising mainly Chinese and Malaysian firms. Analysts estimate its total oil output from South Sudan at 250,000 bpd. (Reporting by Hereward Holland; writing by Ulf Laessing; editing by Keiron Henderson)

http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFL5E8CR3RR20120127

Sudan, South Sudan End Talks on Oil Dispute Without Accord
BusinessWeek
27 (Bloomberg) — South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and Sudanese leader Umar al-Bashir failed to reach an agreement to end an oil dispute between the two countries that led South Sudan to start shutting down its crude production.

Stories of struggling families emerge as Plan steps up relief in South Sudan
Reuters AlertNet (blog)
Our cows were raided and our crops was burned down by them,” said Mary Nyagolol, resident of Likuangole displaced to Pibor town in Jonglei, South Sudan. At least 17, 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in two payams of Gumuruk and Likuangole of 

Sudanese Bishop Granted Asylum in US, with Covington’s Help
The BLT: Blog of Legal Times (blog)
Lawyers with Covington & Burling in Washington helped to secure asylum for a Sudanese Episcopalian Bishop after he became a target for his support of South Sudan, the firm said Friday. Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail is a native of the Sudanese province of 

January 27, 2012, 2:00 PM EST

By William Davison and Paul Richardson

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and Sudanese leader Umar al-Bashir failed to reach an agreement to end an oil dispute between the two countries that led South Sudan to start shutting down its crude production.

The negotiations are expected to continue at the Jan. 29-30 summit of the 54-nation African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told reporters today in the capital.

“In general terms I believe there is quite a lot of progress, but not enough for us to be able to clinch a deal now,” Meles said. The failure of the talks means South Sudan’s shutdown of oil production will continue, he said.

South Sudan has accused Sudan of seizing oil that passes through its territory to an export terminal on the Red Sea and has demanded $32 a barrel in transportation fees. South Sudan offered $1 a barrel. Sudan says it is diverting the crude to cover unpaid bills. Kiir said on Jan. 23 Sudan has “looted” $815 million worth of his country’s oil.

South Sudan took control of about three-quarters of Sudan’s output of 490,000 barrels a day when it gained independence from its northern neighbor in July. The crude is pumped mainly by China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. and India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd.

The talks came after the African Union submitted a proposal, backed by the U.S. and China, to both leaders suggesting ways to end the dispute.

Chinese Imports

China imported about 250,000 barrels a day, or more than 65 percent of total Sudanese oil exports, accounting for 5 percent of the nation’s imports in 2010, according to data from the U.S. Energy Department.

South Sudan said on Jan. 25 that it has stopped output at more than 300 wells and there is “reduced production” at 600 more, cutting production to about 135,000 barrels per day from 275,000 barrels previously.

South Sudan’s “unilateral decision” to halt production “can only be stopped if there is an agreement,” Meles said.

The shutdown of output so far in South Sudan may have halted CNPC-operated production in Unity state, equivalent to about 150,000 barrels per day, Philippe de Pontet, Africa Director at New York-based Eurasia Group, said in a research report yesterday.

South Sudan’s chief negotiator at the talks, Pagan Amum, said the shutdown of the country’s output would be completed by tomorrow. Any agreement with Sudan would depend on the release of detained vessels ferrying “stolen” South Sudanese oil, and compensation for the siphoned crude, he said.

Once an agreement is reached, it will take about a week to bring production back to pre-shutdown levels, Amum said.

South Sudan says its government depends on oil for about 90 percent of its revenue.

–Editors: Karl Maier, Emily Bowers

To contact the reporters on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net; Paul Richardson in Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-27/sudan-south-sudan-end-talks-on-oil-dispute-without-accord.html

South Sudan oil shutdown continues after talks fail

Yara Bayoumy and Aaron MaashoReuters

1:02 p.m. CST, January 27, 2012

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan failed Friday to resolve an oil dispute that has led to the shutdown of the South’s crude output and threatened both countries’ economies.The row centers on how much landlocked South Sudan, which became independent last year, should pay to send its oil exports through Sudan to a Red Sea port.Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, using a walking stick, and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia.The two discussed a deal that “would have frozen the situation and reverses the unilateral actions that had been taken by both,” a source close to the talks told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

However, the source said the talks broke down when Kiir pulled out.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who chaired the East African meeting, said the two had agreed to sign a deal even though they had reservations on numerous points, according to the source.

“Then Salva said, ‘I regret to say that my delegation is still discussing the deal and I can’t sign’,” the source said.

South Sudan seceded in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with Khartoum. It took with it about 75 percent of roughly 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.

Both countries depend heavily on oil and have put forward widely differing figures for a possible transit fee. Sudan has publicly proposed $36 per barrel, while South Sudan has listed figures under $1 per barrel.

The dispute heated up this month when Sudan said it was confiscating some oil exports from South Sudan to make up for what it called unpaid fees. In response, South Sudan said on January 20 it was shutting down its output.

WELLS SHUT DOWN

South Sudan’s oil minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said Friday that his country was continuing to shut down its oil output in protest at Sudan seizing part of its oil shipments.

“Now 50 percent of the wells are off,” he told reporters during a visit to the Palouge oil field in Upper Nile state. However, he did not say whether he was referring to the whole country or Upper Nile fields only.

In a sign of continuing acrimony, Dau also said Khartoum may have been diverting some oil from the fields which lay on the southern side of the border to feed its refinery in Khartoum. There was no immediate response to the accusation from Sudan.

An official at Petrodar, a consortium of mainly Chinese and Malaysian firms that produces much of South Sudan’s oil output, said the company had shut down around 250 of its wells, and expected to finish the shutdown in three days.

“The progress is going very smoothly and safely. The program is expected to finish in three more days,” Hago Bakheed Mahmoud, field operation manager for Petrodar, told reporters.

Petrodar was still pumping between 145,000 and 150,000 barrels per day and could resume its operations within three to four days if it was given instructions to do so, he added.

TALKS COLLAPSE

The negotiations that could lead to a reversal of the shutdown “have reached an impasse,” South Sudan’s chief negotiator Pagan Amum told reporters in Addis Ababa.

“The mood was not good because imagine you’re sitting with someone that’s stealing your property,” he said, adding the South’s output would cease by Saturday and that only cleaning and flushing the facilities would remain after that.

Sudan’s negotiators did not immediately comment.

Ethiopian leader Meles said the two sides hadn’t agreed on a deal yet, but oil would stay on the agenda in Addis Ababa, where the leaders of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia also met.

“It was agreed that the two parties will continue their negotiations during the summit. We have not come to conclusion as yet,” he told reporters.

Meles said an African Union mediating panel had proposed a “reversal of unilateral measures” taken by both sides, but did not spell out what that meant. “Many of those issues are agreed, but there are some sticking points,” he said.

According to oil industry sources, Sudan has already sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at millions of dollars discount, and is offering more.

Sudan’s civil war was fought for most years from 1955 to 2005 over issues of ethnicity, religion, ideology and oil. An estimated 2 million people died in the conflict.

Southerners voted overwhelmingly to secede in a referendum held last year in January.

(Reporting by Aaron Maasho and Yara Bayoumy; Additional reporting by Hereward Holland in Palouge; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by David Stamp)

Sudan, South Sudan Oil Talks End Without Agreement

LONDON (Dow Jones)–Negotiations between Sudan President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan President Salva Kiir to resolve a long-standing dispute of oil transit fees ended without agreement, David Kong, deputy of mission at South Sudan’s embassy in Ethiopia, told Dow Jones Newswires on Friday.

“No agreement was reached, but our president says negotiations will continue,” Kong said, adding that South Sudan would go ahead with its plans to shut down oil production.

The meeting, which took place in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Friday, marked the latest attempt to negotiate an agreement between the two sides in a long-standing dispute over oil transit fees.

South Sudan split from Sudan in July, taking with it some 75% of the former country’s oil production. However, South Sudan lacks the infrastructure to export the oil and has been left dependent on pipelines that flow through Sudan.

The neighbors have been unable to agree on a suitable fee for the use of these pipelines, and the resulting dispute has become increasingly tense, causing severe disruptions to South Sudan’s oil exports.

-By Sarah Kent, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9376; sarah.kent@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120127-712921.html

Sudan, South Sudan leaders fail to reach oil deal

Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:33pm GMT
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir (L) and Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir attend the Independence Day ceremony in South Sudan's capital Juba July 9, 2011.    REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

By Yara Bayoumy and Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan failed on Friday to resolve an oil dispute that has led to the shutdown of the South’s crude output and threatened both countries’ economies.

The row centres on how much landlocked South Sudan, which became independent last year, should pay to send its oil exports through Sudan to a Red Sea port.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, using a walking stick, and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir met on the sidelines of a meeting of East African officials in Ethiopia.

The two discussed a deal that “would have frozen the situation and reverses the unilateral actions that had been taken by both”, a source close to the talks told Reuters.

However, the source said the talks broke down when Kiir pulled out.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who chaired the East African meeting, said the two had agreed to sign a deal even though they had reservations on numerous points, according to the source.

“Then Salva said, ‘I regret to say that my delegation is still discussing the deal and I can’t sign’,” the source quoted Zenawi as saying.

South Sudan seceded in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with Khartoum. It took with it about 75 percent of roughly 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.

Both countries depend heavily on oil and have put forward widely differing figures for a possible transit fee. Sudan has publicly proposed $36 per barrel, while South Sudan has listed figures under $1 per barrel.

The dispute heated up this month when Sudan said it was confiscating some oil exports from South Sudan to make up for what it called unpaid fees. In response, South Sudan said on January 20 it was shutting down its output.

WELLS SHUT DOWN

South Sudan’s oil minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said on Friday that his country was continuing to shut down its oil output in protest at Sudan seizing part of its oil shipments.

“Now 50 percent of the wells are off,” he told reporters during a visit to the Palouge oil field in Upper Nile state. However, he did not say whether he was referring to the whole country or Upper Nile fields only.

Zenawi said the two sides hadn’t agreed on a deal yet, but oil would stay on the agenda in Addis Ababa, where the leaders of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia also met.

“It was agreed that the two parties will continue their negotiations during the summit. We have not come to conclusion as yet,” he told reporters.

Zenawi said an African Union mediating panel had proposed a “reversal of unilateral measures” taken by both sides, but did not spell out what that meant. “Many of those issues are agreed, but there are some sticking points,” he said.

According to oil industry sources, Sudan has already sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at millions of dollars discount, and is offering more.

Sudan’s civil war was fought for most years from 1955 to 2005 over issues of ethnicity, religion, ideology and oil. An estimated 2 million people died in the conflict.

Southerners voted overwhelmingly to secede in a referendum held last year in January.

http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE80Q0BO20120127?feedType=RSS&feedName=investingNews&sp=true

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27 Jan 2012 15:38

Direct North-South hostilities are not the only danger in the current stand-off between Sudan and South Sudan, Saferworld said today. “We are particularly concerned about the grave implications the current stand-off could have for internal stability and prosperity in both countries”, said Hesta Groenewald,Head of Saferworld’s Sudan and Great Lakes Programme.

A collapse in oil revenue means a collapse in income for both sides, which could precipitate serious internal security problems. In the South, the oil take is 98% of the national budget, of which over a third is spent on security.

While much of the economy is not cash-based, and donors largely make up the gap in funding for social services, if the military payroll is disrupted, troops will get restive – a problem which has led to violence in the past.

Southern oil accounted for 36% of the Government of Sudan’s revenues at secession. As the state’s financial patronage also upholds stability North of the border, less oil money will spell trouble, in a country already facing active rebellions in several states.

“As Sudan and South Sudan edge closer to renewed war, China – the largest consumer of oil from the two countries, and with vast economic investments in both – can play a key role in pressuring both sides to find a compromise. China’s interests lie in peaceful co-operation between the two sides”, Groenewald said.

“Although usually reluctant to play a high-prolife role on conflict issues in the region, China was visibly active in trying to mediate a settlement in December. More recently it has expressed concern about the rising tension, renewing its calls for calm and dialogue.”

“Now is the time for China to use its influence to ensure a fair, workable solution is found through the African Union process, and it should be credited in the West for its constructive approach.”

Saferworld believes that China and all international actors should clearly spell out the negative consequences that will arise from escalating tensions, and offer incentives to encourage compromise.

To avoid the risk of further disputes arising out of mutual distrust, any deal must also be transparent, accountable and subject to impartial monitoring.

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/sudanese-oil-stand-off-has-grave-internal-implications-for-north-and-south

South Sudan: Ministry Receives Repaired Lane of Juba Nile Bridge
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Aluong lauded the contribution made by the American government through their agency and Japan’s JICA which played important role of improving infrastructure and roads network in South Sudan. The development of roads network and bridges in South Sudan 
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Juba — The State Minister of Information, Communication, Youth and Sports, Francis Barson Yowasa, yesterday closed South Sudan Anti-corruption Commission social accountability training program for state. In a word of encouragement to the participants, 
Sudanese oil stand-off has grave internal implications for North and South
Reuters AlertNet
Direct North-South hostilities are not the only danger in the current stand-off between Sudan andSouth Sudan, Saferworld said today. “We are particularly concerned about the grave implications the current stand-off could have for internal stability 
UN refugee chief warns Davos leaders that economic crisis is fueling conflicts
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Guterres says existing humanitarian hotspots in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia aren’t going away while new emergencies are emerging in places like South Sudan. He urged donors to increase funding to prevent aid for 500000 people in the newly independent 

Luke Pachymuthu and Florence TanReuters4:48 a.m. CST, January 27, 2012
SINGAPORE (Reuters)– Sudan has sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at millions of dollars discount and is offering more, industry sources said, as Khartoum looks to recover oil revenue from its former civil war foe.A bitter row has escalated between the two over the value of the transit fee landlocked South Sudan should pay for oil pumped north by pipeline through its northern neighbor and exported from Port Sudan.South Sudan is shutting down production in protest after Khartoum blocked exports and seized some of the oil as compensation. South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir accused Khartoum of having “looted” revenues amounting to roughly $815 million from crude cargoes.The seized crude was loaded onto three tankers from January 13-20, South Sudan’s justice ministry said.

Sudan sold one of those cargoes, a 600,000 barrel shipment loaded on the vessel Ratna Shradha, to a North Asian trader. The final price of the sale was unclear, but one trader said that the cargo was sold at a discount as steep as $14 a barrel. That would indicate an $8.4 million discount for the whole cargo versus the last official price charged by the South.

“This is crude from the South sold by the North at a $14 discount to the South’s last selling price,” a Middle East-based crude trader said.

The tanker is heading to Singapore, another source said.

The last time South Sudan sold Nile Blend cargoes, it did so at a premium of $2.50-$3.00 a barrel to the benchmark Indonesian Crude Price, traders said. This would indicate that Sudan has sold the cargo at a discount of around $11 a barrel to the Indonesian price.

Sudan has also loaded two other cargoes of seized Dar Blend crude, but it is not immediately clear if they have sold those. Khartoum had offered these cargoes last week at a discount to official South Sudan prices, traders said. One of them is headed to the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, they added.

The South last sold seven cargoes of Dar Blend at discounts between $5 and $11 a barrel to dated Brent. Sudan offered the cargoes at a discount of $15-$16, another source said.

The lure of deeply discounted oil is probably outweighing the risks buyers face of any legal complications for purchasing the cargoes from Sudan.

Buyers could face private arbitration or even be dragged to the International Court of Justice, said a lawyer familiar with contract arbitration said, declining to be identified because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

OFFGUARD

Regular buyers of South Sudan oil were caught offguard when Khartoum started blocking exports in late December.

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. Buyers include PetroChina, Glencore, Vitol, Trafigura and Arcadia, they said.

“There was no reason given. They just held back sailing,” a second trader with a Western firm said, adding that demurrage costs and the uncertainty were a “nightmare.”

South Sudan pledged to fully shut its output of 275,000 barrels per day (bpd) in two weeks, a move that could also cut off supplies to equity holders China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), Malaysia’s Petronas and India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp.

A third trader said buyers could declare force majeure if they still cannot lift the oil 30 days from the date of loading.

“Force majeure is the last resort if the cargo has not been loaded 30 days after the scheduled loading date. As long as the ship has not loaded the oil,” the trader said.

“It will be complicated to declare force majeure if the oil is already on board. How are you going to discharge the oil back into the shore tanks?”

South Sudan became independent in July under a 2005 peace agreement with Khartoum that ended decades of civil war but both sides have failed to agree how to untangle their oil industries.

(Additional reporting by Yaw Yan Chong and Osamu Tsukimori in TOKYO Editing by Manash Goswami and Simon Webb)


The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan are meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to discuss a deepening crisis over sharing their oil wealth

A map showing South Sudan and Sudan's oil fields

When South Sudan became independent last July, Sudan lost most of its oil.

However, the export pipelines go through Sudan, which has seized some $815m (£520m) in oil revenue, accusing the south of not paying transit fees.

South Sudan last week said it was suspending oil production, accusing Sudan of “stealing” its oil.

The leaders of Kenya and Ethiopia are trying to broker a deal between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and his Sudanese counterpart – and old enemy – Omar al-Bashir.

The BBC’s James Copnall in Khartoum says the row over oil has taken the two countries’ relationship to its lowest point since South Sudan seceded.

In addition to the oil dispute, there are also tensions along the border, with Sudan this week denying accusations that it had bombed a refugee camp in South Sudan housing people who had fled a conflict across the frontier.

The two countries swap accusations of backing each other’s rebel groups.

Mr Kiir was a leading member of a rebel group which fought Sudan for two decades before a peace deal paved the way for the south’s independence.

‘Oil war’A lot is riding on the summit as if South Sudan’s threatened shutdown in oil production is completed, it would damage the already struggling economies of both countries, our correspondent says.

Some Sudanese newspapers are already calling the crisis the “oil war”, he adds.

In 2011, the South Sudanese government estimated that 98% of its total budget came from oil revenues.

African Union mediators have said that Sudan and South Sudan are not far away from returning to actual conflict.

On Wednesday South Sudan announced a deal with Kenya to build an oil pipeline linking its oil fields to Kenya’s Lamu port, potentially reducing its dependence on Sudan for exports.

Alex de Waal, who is advising the African Union mediation panel for South Sudan and Sudan, wrote this week that such a pipeline might take three years to build.

Correspondents say there are also worries about the impact of the proposed pipeline on Lamu, which is one of East Africa’s most beautiful and relatively unspoiled environments.

Presidents meet over Sudan oil rowBy Jenny Vaughan (AFP) –   

ADDIS ABABA — Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir failed to resolve a dispute over oil after day-long talks hosted by an African peace bloc Friday in Ethiopia.

The two leaders met amid heightened tensions after the South accused Khartoum of stealing $815 million worth of crude oil.

Sudan admits to taking oil from the South, but says it was to compensate for export fees and use of its refineries.

“There are some sticking points… in general terms I believe there is quite a lot of progress but not enough for us to be able to clinch a deal now,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Meles is the current chair of the regional bloc, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Somali leader Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Djibouti’s Ismael Omar Guelleh also attended the talks.

However South Sudan’s chief negotiator Pagan Amum said the negotiations were tense, but confirmed they would continue.

“These talks… have reached an impasse because of the intransigence of the government of Sudan,” Amum told reporters.

“The mood of course was not good because you can imagine sitting with somebody who is stealing your property.”

Juba this week began to halt oil production after it ordered a complete shutdown over the dispute with Khartoum, a former civil war foe. Over half the wells are now shut, the South says.

The leaders proposed a deal to reverse unilateral decisions by the countries and to work on signing a comprehensive agreement, Meles said, adding that the talks would continue at an African Union summit starting Sunday.

Bashir and Kiir left the meeting separately and refused to comment.

South Sudan split from Sudan in July, taking with it three quarters of the country’s oil, which makes up more than 90 percent of the South’s revenue.

Landlocked South Sudan signed an agreement with Kenya Tuesday to build an oil pipeline to a Kenyan port, potentially freeing it from its dependence on exporting oil through Sudan.

However, industry experts have said that building a pipeline could take more than three years and cost as much as $4 billion — a staggering cost for the South, where oil production is already close to peaking.

South Sudan has also approached Ethiopia to build a pipeline connecting to the Red Sea state of Djibouti.

Earlier this month, South Sudan signed its first oil deals with foreign nations since it won independence last July, inking agreements with Chinese, Indian and Malaysian firms.

The deals, which replace deals signed with Khartoum under a unified Sudan, cover oil production in the two key petroleum states of Unity and Upper Nile.

Khartoum also opened bids to international companies days after the South penned its deals.

After South Sudan gained its independence in July, Sudan, which also depends on oil, was scrambling for ways to bolster its finances.

Meanwhile South Sudan said Friday it had discovered new figures that it claimed showed the north had colluded with oil companies to provide lower production figures on paper than was actually being pumped from the ground.

“All the figures that are being given to the (South’s oil) ministry as a base for the production sharing among the partners — this was not true, it was misleading,” said Stephen Dhieu Dau, the South’s oil minister.

“We believe Khartoum is now pumping more reserves,” he told reporters in Juba, claiming figures in some cases under-reported oil production by as much as 15 percent.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHBN7WLZ6laC9Ne4Z48SBGofdEkA?docId=CNG.db52691d2005cab46bbe09fa2b685ee4.e81

Sudan sells seized South Sudan crude at deep discount: sources
Chicago Tribune
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Sudan has sold at least one cargo of crude seized from South Sudan at millions of dollars discount and is offering more, industry sources said, as Khartoum looks to recover oil revenue from its former civil war foe…
SOUTH SUDAN:WARPLANES BOMB REFUGEES IN SOUTH SUDAN -UNHCR
Brunei News, Brunei Headlines from Brunei fm
27 (NNN-ANGOP): Warplanes dropped several bombs in two attacks targeting a transit centre inSouth Sudan with some 5000 refugees, with one boy wounded and 14 others missing, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. “At least one Sudanese refugee boy is 
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JOHANNESBURG • Neighbors found the 18-month-old boy crying alone in the bush outside his village of Wek in South Sudan. Both his parents had been shot to death during ethnic clashes this month between the Murle and Lou Nuer ethnic groups in Jonglei 
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January 26, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The violent events in South Darfur State escalated on Thursday with two people being killed as demonstration against the newly appointed governor entered its third day. Meanwhile, the federal government in Khartoum has 
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| KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan will treat South Sudanese as foreigners from April, state media said Thursday, adding to uncertainty over the fate of 700000 southerners living in the north six months after independence. South Sudan became Africa’s newest 
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Al Jazeera speaks to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres who calls the situation in Sudan and South Sudan a “massive humanitarian emergency”
Sudan and South Sudan leaders bid to defuse oil dispute
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However, the export pipelines go through Sudan, which has seized some $815m (£520m) in oil revenue, accusing the south of not paying transit fees. South Sudanlast week said it was suspending oil production, accusing Sudan of “stealing” its oil.