Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum confirmed on 14 April that Southern Sudanese oil has crossed the border into Sudanese territory for the first time in more than a year. This coincided with a state visit by Sudanese President ‘Umar al-Bashir to the Southern Sudanese capital of Juba – the first such visit since the South broke away from Sudan in 2011.
“The first batch of oil already arrived on Sudanese land,” undersecretary at Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum Awad ‘Abd al-Fatah told France’s AFP. “It is a small testing quantity.” After reaching a deal with Sudan to resume cross-border flows of crude oil last month, South Sudan celebrated its return to crude oil production on 6 April, ending a long-standing dispute between the former civil war foes (MEES, 12 April). (CONTINUED - 571 WORDS)
