by ABAYOMI AZIKIWE
Sudan and the newly-independent South Sudan have moved to the edge of all-out war in this oil-producing central African region. Sudan initially agreed to recognize the partition of the south of the country during 2011 after a January vote in South Sudan that was overwhelmingly in favor of secession.
However, major issues related to the demarcation of the borders between the two states and the control of oil resources were not resolved prior to the break-up of the country, which was, prior to the partition, the continent’s largest geographic nation-state. In the period leading up to the division of Sudan, the country was producing over 500,000 barrels of oil per day.
The seizure by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the armed forces of South Sudan, of the Heglig oil fields in South Kordofan state on April 10 prompted international condemnation and a declaration of war by Khartoum. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told supporters of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) at a rally on April 18 that he would go to war rather than surrender the Heglig oil fields, the country’s largest, to the South Sudanese government.
South Sudan announced that it was withdrawing its forces from Heglig on April 20. Later the Sudanese government declared victory over the SPLA in the dispute claiming that Khartoum had “liberated” Heglig from Juba (the capital of South Sudan).
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