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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.
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