South Sudan Accuses Sudan of Stealing Oil

Voice of America ^ | January 17, 2012 | Peter Heinlein

[Pan_Yan]

South Sudan on Tuesday accused its northern neighbor Sudan of stealing more than 2.1 million barrels of oil, and warned buyers and shippers that they might face prosecution. The accusation has cast a pall over a new round of talks on sharing oil revenues.

South Sudan's chief negotiator at the African Union-mediated talks accused the Khartoum government of confiscating and selling southern oil, saying it is creating an economic and political crisis.

The oil is shipped from landlocked Southern Sudan by pipeline to Port Sudan, where it is loaded onto ships for export. The two countries produce about 500,000 barrels of oil a day.

Disputed oil transit fees

The Khartoum government this week said it would take part of the south's oil as compensation for transit fees, pending settlement of their dispute over how much the payments should be.

Southern negotiator Pagan Amoum on Tuesday showed reporters documents indicating that the north has seized three oil shipments in recent days worth more than $200 million. He said the action threatens to end the north-south talks.

"The government of Sudan, as we speak, has completed loading the stolen oil onto its vessels that now have cargo of stolen oil of South Sudan. This represents some $140 million of property of the people of South Sudan being taken away. And if you add the 750,000 [barrels] that may be starting to be loading today or tomorrow morning, it will amount to $215 million. This is an act of state piracy," said Amoum.

[Pan_Yan]

Long, bloody wars have been fought in Africa for a lot less than $215 million. And Omar al-Bashir is spoiling to start the fighting again anyway.

[Pan_Yan]

Ping.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Pan_Yan.