South Africa becomes involved in oil protests

The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) on Friday said it was “gravely concerned” that Soekor, South Africa’s oil parastatal, was in the advanced stages of negotiating expansion activities in Sudan. The SACBC said it was worried that “by negotiating new concessions in areas that have not been ‘cleansed’ of communities regarded by the Khartoum government as disposable”, Soekor would “contribute to the escalation of the conflict in Sudan”. “Oil is key to the war in Sudan. During our visits to Sudan, we saw for ourselves the results of the forced removal and displacement of tens of thousands of southern Sudanese to make the oilfields and pipeline safe from attack,” said Cardinal Wilfred Napier, President of the SACBC, in a press statement. “We are convinced that oil is at once a major cause of the war and a means used by Khartoum to increase its military capacity,” he added. South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs told IRIN on Monday that it had no disagreement with Soekor or the Department of Mineral Affairs and Energy. Roger Ballard-Tremmer, Director for its North Africa Desk, said the department had briefed Soekor about the situation in Sudan, which was normal procedure, especially in sensitive sitiuations like Sudan. “We briefed them about the political and the economic sitiation. We are not prescriptive and we cannnot dictate to companies as to where they do business... all we can do is advise them,” he said. Ballard-Tremmer said that no decision was taken by Soekor about their plans for Sudan during that meeting, and that Foreign Affairs would, of course, continue to keep an eye on the situation. Soekor was formed in 1965 by the South African government and falls under the Department of Mineral Affairs and Energy. Its main purpose is to reduce the country’s dependence on imported oil, and it explores for oil and gas off the South African coast as well as abroad, with a particular focus on Africa and the Middle East. Earlier this month, a high-ranking delegation from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) visited Sudan. South Africa’s deputy minister for minerals and energy, Susan Shubangu, was part of that delegation - officially as a party member and not in her capacity as deputy minister. The South African bishops said their concern over Soekor’s intentions had been confirmed by Shubangu’s comments in Sudan, which stated the South African government’s commitment to “developing relations with Khartoum in the areas of oil extraction and mining”. Cardinal Napier called on South African Mineral and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka “to intervene to stop this overt support for a party to the Sudan conflict that is seriously alleged to have committed serious violations of human rights”. In another development, the Russian-Belorussian oil company, Slavneft, announced on 20 July that it had signed a joint venture agreement to develop an oilfield in Sudan, and was now awaiting a production sharing agreement by the end of the year, Reuters reported. Slavneft said that analysis of data from the ninth oilfield and gas block in central Sudan had suggested the possible existence of several oilfields, the report said. Slavneft had earlier said it was offered data from the ninth and 11th blocks, in central Sudan, and the 15th block on the Red Sea. The company said it was also considering a stake in the international consortium - which includes Gulf Petroleum of Qatar; the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and the Sudanese state oil firm SUDAPEC - exploring the Melut Basin in southern Sudan, Reuters reported. Most of Sudan’s crude oil is currently produced in the 225,000 barrel-per-day Unity (Wahdah)/Western Upper Nile oilfield operated by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, comprising CNPC (which owns 40 percent), Malaysia’s Petronas (30 percent), the Canadian firm Talisman Energy Inc (25 percent) and SUDAPEC (5 percent), it added. International oil companies operating in Sudan have come under fire from human rights organisations and church groups, which allege that Sudanese government troops and pro-government militias have been conducting rights abuses and depopulating oil concession areas to make way for oil production. As recently as 21 July, US Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Andrew Natsios said he had raised as a particular concern the issue of government attacks on the Nubah Mountains. He cited reports from aid workers who had alleged that the army was displacing populations to clear the way for oil drilling, and said that military attacks in May had displaced 40,000 to 50,000 people. Meanwhile, Sudan on 22 July warned Kenya that it may stop importing Kenyan tea and coffee if the government there banned Sudanese oil imports. Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma’il said it was natural for Sudan to export oil to Kenya, and that any Kenyan government hindrance of the trade would have an adverse impact on both countries, AFP reported. Sudan imported US $150 million worth of Kenyan tea and coffee each year, leaving the balance of trades between the countries in Kenya’s favour, he added. On Wednesday 18 July, Sudan issued a press statement in which it defended the announcement by Kenya a week earlier that the country’s oil companies had been given official permission to import oil from Sudan at zero tariff. Khartoum said that, in allowing the importation of goods without tariff, Kenya was merely fulfilling its duty under the terms of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), of which it was a founding member. Kenya came under pressure from human rights groups - and the US government, according to Sudanese news reports - to rescind that decision, and Isma’il’s comments came in response to media queries about an alleged measure by the Kenyan authorities barring delivery of a Sudanese oil shipment to Kenya. Meanwhile, representatives of the Sudanese Anglican Church living in Kenya said at the weekend that the country’s role as a mediator of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development peace process would be compromised by its importation of oil from the Sudan. At a church service in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, church leaders accused Khartoum of displacing more than two million people in southern Sudan in its quest for oil, and that if Kenya imported oil from the regime, then it could not be trusted as a mediator in the Sudanese conflict.