Sudanese clash kills Ethiopian peacekeeper, tribal head
By Ulf Laessing and Khalid Abdelaziz
KHARTOUM | Sun May 5, 2013 12:54pm EDT
(Reuters) - One Ethiopian peacekeeper was killed and two others wounded when
a U.N. convoy was caught up in a tribal clash in the Abyei border region
claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, the United Nations said on Sunday.
A tribal leader was shot dead in the same incident, while in separate
violence along the neighbors' volatile border, the Sudanese army clashed
with rebels of the SPLM-North, which is trying to topple President Omar
Hassan al-Bashir.
Sudan and South Sudan in March agreed to resume cross-border oil flows and
defuse tensions which have plagued them since the South seceded in 2011
after an independence vote.
But they were unable to decide on the ownership of Abyei which both the
Dinka tribe, allied to South Sudan, and the Arab Misseriya tribe, allied to
Sudan, call their home.
Kuwal Deng Mayok, the top Dinka leader in Abyei, was travelling with a U.N.
convoy when he was killed by members of the Misseriya in a clash on Saturday
that risked fuelling new tensions in the flashpoint area.
An Ethiopian peacekeeper was also killed and two others were seriously
wounded by a Misseriya tribesman, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's
office said.
"The Secretary-General urges the governments of Sudan and South Sudan and
the ... Dinka and Misseriya communities to remain calm and avoid any
escalation of this unfortunate event," it said in a statement.
The Sudanese foreign ministry said in a statement it would carry out an
"urgent, transparent, thorough and fair" investigation. It urged all parties
to exercise restraint.
NEW CLASHES
Abyei straddles the border between the neighbors, who fought one of Africa's
longest civil wars. It is prized for its fertile land and small oil
reserves.
Like South Sudan, Abyei was meant to have an independence vote, agreed under
the 2005 peace deal which ended the civil war between the north and south.
But both countries have been unable to agree which tribal members should
participate.
Ethiopian peacekeepers have been running a temporary administration for
Abyei since Sudan seized it in May 2011 following an attack on a convoy of
U.N. peacekeepers and Sudanese soldiers which the United Nations blamed on
southern forces. Khartoum later withdrew its forces under a U.N. peace plan.
In separate fighting, the army clashed on Sunday with rebels of the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) in the Sudanese state of
South Kordofan, bordering South Sudan.
Army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid told state news agency SUNA his troops had
repulsed a rebel attack in the area of Um Burmbita, killing many fighters of
the SPLM-North.
SPLM-North spokesman Arnu Lodi confirmed "heavy clashes" but denied his
troops had been defeated.
(Reporting by Ulf Laessing in Khartoum and Lou Charbonneau in New York;
Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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South Sudan's Palouge oilfield to reach 180,000 bpd in a month
Sun May 5, 2013 3:01pm EDT
(Adds details and background)
By
<
http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=Hereward.Hollan
d> Hereward Holland
May 5 (Reuters) - South Sudan's Palouge oilfield, the country's biggest,
will reach production of up to 180,000 barrels per day within a month after
starting at 125,000, oil consortium Dar Petroleum said on Sunday, ramping up
output slower than initially planned.
Landlocked South Sudan reached an agreement with long-time foe Sudan during
talks in Addis Ababa in March to resume pumping of the south's oil to a Red
Sea port in Sudan for export, throwing both economies a lifeline.
The African neighbours came close to war a year ago but pledged in March to
end a conflict over oil fees and a disputed border. South Sudan had shutdown
its previous output of up to 350,000 bpd in January 2012 when tensions with
Sudan escalated.
"Within a month, we should be reaching 165,000 to 180,000 and we would
expect to reach the level where we were before the shutdown by early next
year," Dar Petroleum President Joseph Podtung said during a ceremony to
restart production at Palouge, which came a month later than initially
predicted.
Partners in the consortium producing Dar Blend at the blocks 3 and 7 in
Palouge include <
http://www.reuters.com/places/china> China National
Petroleum Corp and Malaysia's Petronas.
DELAYS
The African country is restarting production slower than initially planned.
Officials had forecast last month an output of 200,000 bpd by April 15.
Originally the country had planned to have resumed oil exports by January
but mistrust between the neighbours delayed the set up of a border buffer
zone, a condition for Sudan to let through southern oil.
Damage caused by cross-border skirmishes a year ago means South Sudan can
only gradually ramp up production in its Unity State oilfields, which is
mixed to produce Nile Blend, a light, sweet, waxy crude. Production started
there on the small Jath Thar oilfield in early April.
Industry experts say Nile Blend is likely to remain at around 30,000-40,000
bpd for at least six months.
South Sudan's Oil Minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said the first oil cargo would
reach Port Sudan by May 20, when President Salva Kiir plans to visit Sudan.
"This symbolic event of launching oil resumption is what the people of South
Sudan were awaiting. This is also a message of peace that the agreement that
was signed in Addis Ababa in September 2012 is now being implemented," Dau
told a crowd on Sunday at a ceremony at the oil field.
Finance Minister Kosti Manibe said it would take until June until South
Sudan would be paid for the oil exports.
The oil shutdown had thrown both countries into turmoil as they depend on
oil revenues and pipelines fees to fund food and other imports. (Reporting
by Hereward Holland; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Jon Hemming, Tom
Pfeiffer and Chris Reese)
Received on Sun May 05 2013 - 23:13:03 EDT
