Sudan Closer To War Than Peace With South -Bashir
Published: Feb 03, 2012
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP)--Sudan is closer to war than peace with the breakaway state of South Sudan, President Omar al-Bashir said on national television on Friday, with a dispute over oil and other issues stoking tensions.
"The climate now is closer to a climate of war than one of peace," he said.
Bashir spoke after South Sudanese President Salva Kiir warned Thursday that renewed conflict could erupt if oil negotiations with Khartoum don't include a deal on other key issues, including the contested Abyei region.
Tensions have also been raised by the still undemarcated border, parts of which cut through oilfields, as well as mutual allegations that each side backs rebel forces against the other.
But Bashir, an army officer who seized power in 1989, said Sudan won't go to war "unless it is imposed on us."
South Sudan separated last July after an overwhelming vote that followed two decades of civil war that killed two million people.
The crisis between the neighbors has become a major threat to regional peace and security, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has said.
Juba announced last Sunday it had nearly completed a protest shutdown of its oil production after talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa failed again to resolve a disagreement with Sudan over oil fees.
Khartoum admits to confiscating 1.7 million barrels of South Sudanese crude since vowing in November to take 23% of southern oil exports as payment in kind during the fee dispute.
The South calls this "theft."
"We will continue taking our rights in kind until we reach agreement," Bashir said in a rare televised interview which lasted almost two hours.
The next round of north-south talks mediated by the African Union is scheduled for Feb. 10.
"We will continue listening to the African Union because they are serious mediators," Bashir said, a Sudanese flag beside him.
When South Sudan separated, it took with it three-quarters of the country's total oil production of 470,000 barrels per day.
But landlocked and grossly underdeveloped South Sudan can only ship its oil through the north, leaving the two countries disputing how much Juba should pay for pumping its crude through the pipeline and Red Sea marine terminal.
The South depends on oil for more than 90% of its revenues, while Khartoum's finance minister said late last year that the loss of oil from the South left a budget shortfall of 30%.
Since then, Sudan has witnessed spiralling inflation--which the government sees reaching 17% this year--and the sharp devaluation of the Sudanese pound.
At the same time, crippling debts of almost $40 billion and U.S. economic sanctions, which have banned virtually all trade with Sudan since 1997, choke its access to external financing.
"We know this will be the most difficult year for us," Bashir said.
But the government aims to roughly double its oil production while earning $2.5 billion from gold and targeting higher exports of cotton, sugar and other commodities, he added.
The Sudanese pound recently sank on the black market to five pounds to the dollar, but Bashir said the government wants that raised to three pounds.
Asked about complaints there is no reform in the ruling National Congress Party, Bashir said he will step down from the party leadership--but not the presidency--in 2013.
