White Nile Circular expected April 14 or 15
I hope it all works out, because I hear the arrangement with the SPLM is structured in a way that is an innovation and an improvement on the usual setup that African governments enter into with the usual sharks, i.e. BP, Shell, Total..etc............
But then again, savvy oil entreprenuers like our friends at White Nile would certainly say that to set themselves apart...
PS......Dear Oil Multinationals, Do not sue me for calling you sharks...I am only kidding!!!!
Be it Shell, BP, or White Nile, SPLM must be careful about wagering our oil. I say let's extract some, and focus on getting the expertise and training for our people. So that when we are set on extracting it with full capacity... Labor will be Southern Sudanese... in turn the money generated will flow in our economic system... sparking more development.
ReplyDeleteExploiters always come as merchants first, they are welcomed with open arms, and while you are sleeping they loot and burn then move on to the next. SPLM must be a night watchman, for this is a critical period in South Sudan’s development and future. We must focus on development rather than hasty industrialization.
By the way wonderful blog.
Best,
malaika
Hello Wau Nar, Nice to meet you. I am enjoying your blog and point of view. I've been following the White Nile story closely. Your blog is now in my newsfeed so I look forward to reading your posts as and when they appear.
ReplyDeleteIt's lonely out here blogging about the Sudan - others (see below) don't mind talking about Rwanda, Congo, Uganda - but nobody seems to want to talk about the Sudan. Others who blog about Sudan don't write much commentary, so it is refereshing to read your posts. I hope you keep it up. Bye for now. And thanks again, with kind regards from England. UK.
Check out Ali's post Rwanda where a little group of us have commented - click into their names and it will lead you to their blogs:
The Salon of News and Thought: The Rwanda Genocide 1994, remembering,(Part II)
P.S. Sorry, me again: I meant to write a postscript but pressed publish instead of preview.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say, sorry Malaika here does not have a blog. I thought the comment was interestingly written and insightful.
From what I can gather, SPLM are keen on White Nile because it'd take them into the prestigious London market which would be quite an achievement.
It will be interesting to see what becomes of the first meeting of the new joint oil/petrol commission.
France's Total energy giant is laying claim to the area that SPLM have given to White Nile. Khartoum say SPLM can't give that area to White Nile because Sudan has an existing contract with Total (of which Marathon a Texas oil company is in partners with)
that was renewed in December 2004, before the Jan 9 peace deal was signed.
Khartoum say SPLM jumped the gun by issuing an agreement with White Nile - any such agreements must first go through the new joint commission - as agreed in the peace pact - when it is set up [which is bound, on Khartoum's side, to disallow the White Nile deal, because Total claim a legal right to their contract that cannot be over ridden by White Nile/SPLM].
Other news sources say SPLM are ticked off at Total for going through Khartoum first, instead of dealing directly with SPLM. Whatever, it sounds like trouble.