Skip to main content

Sudan's curse is oil: what will it mean for South Sudan's independence?


[The following book excerpt is published to mark South Sudan’s independence on July 9, 2011]


Sudan 2006
“The Sudan curse is oil,” said my companion. The discovery of black gold was both a blessing and a curse. The Southern Sudanese considered oil the prime cause of the north-south civil wars. The second civil war started in May 1983 with the discovery of oil in Bentiu in the old Upper Nile region—now called Unity State—in Faloj in northern Upper Nile State, and in Jonglei State. In 1998 efforts by sixteen chiefs from Unity State, Nuer, and Dinka tribes, international and local NGOs, and the South Sudan Students Union in Universities, claiming human rights violations and environmental concerns, failed to suspend oil exploration in Bentiu. In August 2006 the Government of Southern Sudan and state authorities convened discussions to agree to withdraw from contractual obligations with White Nile Petroleum and French-Total in Jonglei and northern Bahr-al-Ghazal States, but they did not do so. Instead, the government created the Nile Company as a national body in the south to oversee oil contracts. Detractors said the Nile Company was focused on administrative issues rather than advising the ministry of mining and industry on national imperatives, such as the vegetation development of oil regions and the assessment of water pollution, waste control, air quality, and energy management.

“The Comprehensive Peace Agreement states that Southern Sudan must get fifty percent of oil revenues, so that not all of it goes to Khartoum,” said one man. “But who monitors that? Our new government? Where is the revenue going? To the states where the oil originates, or will it be distributed equally?”

“Equally! That’s nonsense”, said a tribal chief. “If the government distributes revenue equally, then we’ll lose again.”

“To put services in place here costs more because of its remoteness, so we should get more than the states near our new capital,” complained another. “But that’s not the point. The point is about the health of the land and the people. Who will protect us? We’ll die from chemical pollutants or the loss of our livelihood because our land has been destroyed.”

“The CPA is supposed to be the ladder to prosperity as well as a tool for the equitable distribution of wealth and power. Let’s see if that becomes reality.”
Extract from “The Sudan Curse” by Martina Nicolls, available in hardcopy, softcover, and Kindle at amazon.com

Postscript: South Sudan's independence re-sets the relationship between the northern government of Sudan in Khartoum and the new Government of South Sudan, ending the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and its terms and conditions.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou
8 comments
Read more