Published on Oct 22, 2010
By Joe Lauria
China Courts Secessionists in Sudan, Breaking a Mold: Wall Street Journal
China is courting the secessionist government of oil-rich southern Sudan, an apparent departure from Beijing's decades-long opposition to independence movements abroad.
Sudan, after nearly constant civil war over the past five decades, is seeing tensions boil again ahead of a planned independence referendum early next year that stands to split Africa's largest country in two. Voters from the oil-rich, largely Christian south are expected to vote to break away from the country's largely Muslim north. As the Jan. 9, 2011, election date approaches, both sides accuse the other of amassing troops.
The vote poses a conundrum for China. Beijing has consistently opposed independence movements abroad, lest it embolden separatist sympathies at home. And despite its recent overtures to the south, Beijing seeks to maintain its longstanding economic ties with Khartoum, the seat of Sudan's government and center of northern power. China armed and supported the north in the 23-year civil war against the south from 1983 to 2005, in which two million people are believed to have died. It continues to arm Khartoum and has built the north infrastructure projects, including the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa.
So now after facilitating the murder of millions of Sudanese through the authoritarian Sudanese Govt., China is also wooing the South Sudanese, the victims of the genocide, at the hands of Chinese arms sales to the North.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) meets with South Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayardit at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, July 19, 2007 (Xinhua)
Published on Oct 21, 2010
Chinese companies among bidders for Juba-Lamu oil pipeline: Sudan Tribune
Chinese companies are among those that are competing to win a contract for building a pipeline that would pump oil produced in South Sudan through a Kenyan port, according to a report on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
The controversial project would enable the landlocked South to avoid transporting its main export through the pipeline that runs through the North until it reaches Port Sudan.
"China is one of the parties that has been invited to participate," Alfred Mutua, a Kenyan government spokesman told WSJ.
Most analysts believe southerners will vote to secede from the north in an emotional referendum on independence due in less than three months, the culmination of a 2005 north-south peace deal ending Africa’s longest civil war.
But the North is wary of letting the oil-rich South go without arranging for a wealth sharing formula that would prevent an economic collapse in post-referendum Sudan. Currently the North and the South are splitting the proceeds of crude in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005.
About 75 per cent of Sudan’s proven reserves of 6.3bn barrels are in the south but the pipeline that carries the oil to export terminals and refineries runs through the north.
Sudan exports 60% of its oil to China. Sudanese production accounts for 7% of China’s annual consumption. Beijing therefore has a vested interest in ensuring that the South Sudan referendum goes smoothly so as not to threaten its multi-billion dollar investments in the East African country.
China has a pragmatic reason for tolerating a potentially independent south: It is home to 80% of Sudan’s oil reserves, including most of the China National Petroleum Corp.’s four oil concessions, granted to it by Khartoum. Beijing’s stake amounts to 40% of Sudan’s oil industry.
GoSS last week assured China that its investments would be protected should the South vote for separation from the North.
"The largest investment in southern Sudan today is Chinese. They have invested billions of dollars in the oil sector, and have a large number of Chinese workers in the oil fields," said Pagan Amum, secretary general of the south’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
"We have given assurances to the Chinese leadership delegation to protect the Chinese investments in southern Sudan, and are desirous to see more investment in the future," he further said.
So now that the South is seceding, China is moving fast to cozy up with the leaders of the people, they helped kill. After all Oil is involved.
Published on Oct 10, 2010
By Joe Lauria
Tensions Rise Ahead of South Sudan Vote: Wall Street Journal
The president of semiautonomous southern Sudan has asked visiting member countries of the United Nations Security Council to deploy peacekeepers along the border with northern Sudan, stoking tensions between the two regions ahead of a January vote on the south's independence.
Senior Western diplomats said no formal request for the U.N. troops had been made. But such a request would be "carefully considered by the council" and the U.N., one diplomat said.
The north and the south have fought two civil wars lasting 43 years. The second war ended with a peace agreement in 2005 that called for a referendum on Jan. 9 that would determine whether the south remains part of Sudan or secedes.
Sudan is becoming a political pressure cooker ahead of the vote. Both the north and south sides have accused the other of amassing troops along the disputed border.
If there are problems between the North and the South during or after the referendum, now that India is in the UNSC, India should ensure that a UN peacekeeping force is envisioned to patrol the border between the North and the South, just as South Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayardit has demanded. The more the Chinese are torn between choosing between North Sudan and South Sudan, the better it is for India.
India should move quickly to vie for the South Sudan Oilfields and for the construction of the Juba-Lamu Oil Pipeline between Juba in South Sudan and Luma in Kenya. India needs to protect its primary interests not just as far as Oil is concerned but also India's primacy in the Indian Ocean Region. Does India want China to build up an infrastructure for itself all around the Indian Ocean Rim? Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa should be India's backyard. At the moment China is also trying to woo Kenya big time, partly by doing some soft power demonstrations like with Chinese navy hospital ship Peace Ark visiting Mombasa.
Also India should move in to support South Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayardit whole heartedly, especially as it is a period of high-volatility in the region. India should also consider entering into a Defense Pact with the South Sudan Government there, providing them with defense equipment. As long as Sudan was united, India did not want to support some rebel group, impinging on Sudan's sovereignty, but now that South Sudan is on its way to Independence, India can proceed with a Defense Cooperation.
If the money is not there for such projects, India can consider utilizing the India-Japan Dialogue on Africa Framework for securing the Oil Fields. Should there be trouble between North Sudan and South Sudan, strong Indian support to the South would ensure that India is given Chinese share of the Oil Fields in South Sudan as well.
Published on Oct 21, 2010
China Denounces UN Report on Sudan: VoA News
U.N. diplomats accused China on Wednesday of trying to block the publication of the report. They said there is no evidence that Beijing sent ammunition directly to Darfur, but called the attempt to suppress the report "suspicious."
China is one of Sudan's top arms suppliers, but Ma said it has "precisely" enforced the Security Council resolutions on Sudan.
The U.N. says fighting in Darfur between rebels and Sudanese-backed militias has killed about 300,000 people since 2003 and made nearly 3 million people homeless.
The Sudanese government puts the death toll at 10,000.
India should consider becoming a major defense equipment provider to South Sudan.