The scramble for Sudan’s oil

Norman Traub

Both the civil war now raging in Darfur and earlier conflict in Sudan between the North and the South have been fuelled by the fight for control of Sudan’s oil resources.

The civil war of 1983 to 2005 was a period of shifting alliances. The US government switched its support from the Sudanese government to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement(SPLM), fighting for self determination for the people of the South. After the Khartoum government sided with Iraq in the first Gulf War it found itself on a US list of states “sponsoring terrorism” and in 1997 the target of comprehensive US sanctions.

During the North-South conflict China, together with Sudanese and Malaysian companies, set up an oil company. The company constructed a pipeline from the oilfields in the south to Port Sudan and carried Sudan’s first oil exports in 1999.

This development led to US oil companies pressuring the US government to change its policy on Sudan and remove trade sanctions so that they could operate there.

The US brokered a peace deal, which ended the civil war between the North and South and it re-established diplomatic relations with Sudan, although it has not yet lifted trade sanctions. It attempted to rein in China which had become Sudan’s main trading partner. (During 2004, Sudan accounted for 16 million of the 30.1 million tons of overseas oil pumped by the China state oil company.)

It has been estimated that Sudan holds vast potential reserves of oil in the east and north-west of the country in addition to the south. Darfur is one of the regions where oil is present in abundant quantities and drilling began there in 2005.

Finding itself behind China in the race to control Sudan’s oil the US is determined to make up for lost ground. Having successfully lobbied for the UN to send peacekeeping troops to Darfur, it is in a better position through that body to influence the course of events there. It will make sure that when the people of Darfur determine the status of their region in a referendum in 2010, the further exploitation of the oil resources will come up.

In the case of the South, the people have a right to self determination through a referendum in 2011. If the South opts for independence from the Sudan, the US which has a great deal of influence with the SPLM, would be well positioned to ensure that the US oil companies play a big part in exploiting the oil wealth there.

The Darfur conflict

The numbers of victims of the civil war in Darfur continues to rise adding to the grim figures of 200,000 dead and two million refugees. A rebellion in Chad against the central government has displaced thousands of people, who are competing for scarce food and resources in the camps housing the 200,000 refugees from the civil war in Darfur.

In May 2006 the African Union (AU) brokered a deal between the Sudan government and one of the rebel groups in Darfur. In terms of the deal, the Janjaweed, an armed militia linked to the government were required to disarm before the rebels, who won the right for the people of Darfur to determine their status as a region through a referendum to be held by July 2010. Representatives of the rebel group became part of the central government. One of the rebel groups, which did not sign the peace accord has formed the National Redemption Front and demands a federal system of government.

The barrage of propaganda from the US and British governments against Sudan centres around its failure to comply with a Security Council resolution deploying a 22,000 strong UN force to supplement AU troops stationed in Darfur. Sudan has now agreed to the stationing of 3,000 UN peacekeepers with six attack helicopters. The Sudanese government accuses the US and Britain of trying to use a UN presence in Darfur as an avenue for interfering in Sudan’s internal affairs.