Global witness: Sudan’s new oil deal must guarantee transparency Article Comments (10) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Julius N. Uma April 10, 2011 (JUBA) - As fresh talks on the future of Sudan’s oil commence in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a UK-based organization has urged parties involved in the negotiations to deliver on stated commitments to transparency in the oil sector as measures to “preserve peace and drive development”. In a statement released on April 8, Global Witness urged members from the south’s ruling party and their northern counterparts currently involved in the negotiations ahead of the South’s separation to strive towards ensuring that whatever is agreed upon is based on “credible transparency mechanisms”. “A lack of transparency in the current deal has fuelled mistrust between the north and south since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) brought an end to Sudan’s 22-year civil war in 2005,” Global Witness says in the report. It added, “Suspicion that the north was cheating it out of due revenues was one of the primary reasons for the south’s temporary pull-out from the shared government in 2007. It is still impossible to tell if the current deal, a 50:50 split of southern oil revenues, has been implemented fairly.” South Sudan is due to become independent in July after its population overwhelmingly voted for separation in the self-determination referendum. The vote was a key part of the country’s 2005 CPA. According to Global Witness, with more than 75% of the oil is in the south but the pipelines, refineries, and port for exporting are all in the north so it is important that the two sides come to a new agreement on how to share oil revenues. “If Sudan is to build a sustainable and peaceful future, it must learn the lessons of the past. This means the new oil deal must be built on effective transparency and accountability mechanisms from the outset,” says Dana Wilkins, a Global Witness campaigner. She added, “Without transparency the new oil deal will set the stage for continued suspicion and disputes, and potentially even a return to conflict.” In 2009, Global Witness exposed discrepancies of between 9-26%, which it said existed between the oil production figures published by the government in the north and those published by CNPC, a Chinese state-owned oil company and the main operator in Sudan. Specifically, however, the organization says the new oil agreement currently being discussed should include full regular independent monitoring to build trust and confidence between the two parties, involve full audits, covering engineering, technical and financial flows, conducted annually by a credible international firm. In addition, it agitates that information on sales and production figures, fees paid and received by governments and oil companies and exploration contracts must be published, while an independent multi-stakeholder group with sufficient authority, resources, access and expertise must also be brought in to monitor the general functioning of the sector. “As the legitimate owners of Sudan’s natural resources, ordinary citizens must be able to see exactly how they are being managed, how much money is being generated, and what it is being spent on,” further said Wilkins, adding that, “Both sides must make good on their commitments to a transparent deal, thereby making oil a driver for peace and development, not war.” Established in 1993, Global Witness is a non-governmental organization dedicated to exposing the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, the organization has been actively involved in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Cote d’Ivoire, and its activities have reportedly brought the problem of blood diamonds to public and policy makers’ attention. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
