Sudan defends oil closure decision, criticizes US envoy at UN
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June 26, 2013, (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese foreign ministry on Wednesday
defended the country’s decision this month to shut down oil pipelines
extending from South Sudan saying it exhausted all other options to
resolve differences with Juba.
JPEG - 37.5 kb
FILE- A December 27 , 2012 file photo shows Sudan’s President Omer
Hassan al-Bashir (C) inaugurating the Hadida oil field located on the
border between East Darfur state and South Kordofan, the country’s
main oil-producing area (AFP/Getty Images)
The ministry’s spokesperson Abu-Bakr al-Sideeg was quoted by the
pro-government Sudanese Media Center (SMC) website as saying that
Khartoum sought relentlessly to convince Juba to end its support to
anti-Khartoum insurgents.
Al-Sideeg said there remains a window of opportunity to end the
stalemate between the two neighboring countries through implementing
the proposals of the African Union (AU) mediator Thabo Mbeki.
He also noted Sudan’s agreement to a visit by South Sudan Vice
President Riek Machar which is expected to take place on Sunday.
Earlier this month Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir publicly
ordered his oil minister to "immediately" close the oil pipelines and
went as far as saying that Khartoum will never allow Juba to export
its oil through its territories.
But Sudanese officials later talked down Bashir’s rhetoric saying that
the closure will take place within 60 days and declared that his
directives could be reversed if South Sudan gives up its backing to
the rebels.
Khartoum also announced its acceptance of Mbeki’s proposal to defuse
tensions between the two ex-foes.
The foreign ministry spokesperson also criticized this week’s remarks
by the outgoing United States ambassador to the United Nations Susan
Rice and accused her of "unjustified" hostility towards Khartoum.
Al-Sideeg said that Sudan expected Rice to encourage its actions and
pointed out that the troika of US, UK and Norway affirmed that Mbeki’s
proposal represents the way out of the deadlock.
He also addressed accusations by Rice on delivery of humanitarian aid
to conflict-ridden areas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile stressing
that Washington knows that rebels are the ones impeding the tripartite
initiative (AU, Arab League, UN) in this regard.
(ST)
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