Sudan’s SPLM says Abyei oil fields still up for grabs

July 22, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — A number of senior officials from Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) suggested that the oil fields in Abyei are still subject for dispute with the North.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) awarded North Sudan the area’s key Heglig and Bamboo oilfields placing them in the north Sudan district of Southern Kordofan.
The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) hailed the ruling for granting it control of the oilfields.
The SPLM said they accepted the PCA ruling on Abyei but their tone was different on the fate of the oil rich areas.
The GoSS Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development, Michael Makuei Lueth, explained in a televised interview after the ruling that the fate of the area under which Heglig oil fields fall will be resolved in the North-South border demarcation process.
“What we want is Abyei Area [of nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms] not oil fields,” he explained, adding that the issue of Heglig oil fields will be tackled by the North-South Border Committee.
The former SPLM administrator of Abyei Edward Lino hinted at the same thing.
“They (the NCP) are talking about Meram in the west being redefined in order to know exactly where to put the boundary. In the east, they don’t want Heglig and some two other oil-producing areas to be part of the Abyei area. But in fact, Heglig is part of Upper Nile [Unity state], it is not part of the Abyei area” Lino told Sudan radio service in an interview.
The SPLM and NCP have a commission to demarcate the North-South borders. It is not clear if the issue will be raised during their meetings to include Heglig oilfields as part of Upper Nile state as Lino claims.
Earlier today the Sudanese foreign minister Deng Alor said the SPLM accepts the tribunal decision but that it contains “grey areas”.
Asked why he has repeatedly called the ruling as grey, he said, we have lost strategic places in both west and east of Abyei town.
“These areas are part of Abyei with Dinka names clearly shown on the map,” he said.
(ST)
Ngor Arol Garang, contributed to this article from Abyei