Adam Hyde has a new piece up arguing that it's time for the international community to increase the pressure on South Sudan's leaders to make a deal on oil with Khartoum.
I'm still not convinced that it has to be Juba to blink first. Look at the reaction to austerity; Sudanese students are protesting against the regime in Khartoum. South Sudanese students are collecting money to send to the SPLA. Communities around the South are donating cows to the SPLA.
I want a deal as much as anyone, but I want a deal that is fair, one that is closer to the $1 a barrel it actually costs to run a pipeline than the $36 a barrel that Khartoum wants to charge - half of all revenues.
I'm still not convinced that it has to be Juba to blink first. Look at the reaction to austerity; Sudanese students are protesting against the regime in Khartoum. South Sudanese students are collecting money to send to the SPLA. Communities around the South are donating cows to the SPLA.
I want a deal as much as anyone, but I want a deal that is fair, one that is closer to the $1 a barrel it actually costs to run a pipeline than the $36 a barrel that Khartoum wants to charge - half of all revenues.
But what would you have happen to the people in the north?
ReplyDeleteI would have us stop giving the government that they are burdened with a free pass, and put some pressure there. Something like this
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424618/ ? Even this
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/25/bombing-sudans-air-bases-only-way-to-protect-innoc/ ?
But even with that government removed, do you think the country would be able to survive with such heavy financial losses? Would it still be acceptable to allow allow a $1 per barrel deal if it meant the country would collapse?
ReplyDeleteMorally I think it is acceptable that people who live in the South receive the benefits from the oil that is located there. Politically, I think there is some kind of mutually beneficial deal to be made somewhere between $1 and $36. Perhaps anything up to $10 would be fair?
ReplyDelete