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Watchdog: Sudan needs new oil deal
Loading ...A crucial wealth-sharing deal that splits oil profits between north and south Sudan, set to expire following the upcoming secession vote on January 9, is undermined by a significant lack of transparency, and is putting the country on a conflict path, a watchdog organisation has alleged.
In a report released on Thursday, Global Witness said that a new deal must be renegotiated between the Khartoum-based government and Southern Sudan, which is likely to become an independent state.
The report found that the Sudanese government and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which runs the largest oil-extraction operation in the country, have failed to explain significant discrepancies in oil production numbers that make some suspect the government in the north is under-counting production and withholding oil revenue from its Juba-based partner in Southern Sudan.
Global Witness, a London-based group that campaigns against natural resource-related conflict and corruption, emphasised that it was not accusing the Sudanese government of “cheating,” but said it is “impossible to know for sure how much oil Sudan currently produces, and therefore impossible to know for sure whether the wealth-sharing agreement is being implemented fairly”.
Continue Reading at Al Jazeera English.
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