Sudan’s parliament backs Bashir’s decision to halt oil flow
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June 10, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s National Assembly has expressed
support to president Omer Hassan al-Bashir’s decision to halt oil flow
from South Sudan with only one MP dissenting.
JPEG - 17 kb
Sudan National Assembly.
On Saturday Bashir ordered the closure of all pipelines carrying oil
from South Sudan. He told a public rally in the capital Khartoum that
the move was in response to South Sudan’s funding of rebels fighting
his government.
Bashir had warned last month that he would block the oil flow if Juba
continues providing assistance to insurgents fighting in South
Kordofan and Blue Nile states or in the Darfur region. Juba routinely
denies the allegations.
The head of the parliamentary subcommittee for economic affairs Omar
Ali Al-Amin, said that the president’s decision was "absolutely right"
and pointed out that the cooperation agreements is one package and
that security arrangements are an integral part of the economic
matrix, saying “economy fails in the absence of security”.
In September of last year, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series
of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights,
security issues, banking, border trade among others.
However only last March, the two countries signed an implementation
matrix for these deals which was hailed as a major breakthrough in the
mostly tense relations between the two ex-foes.
Al-Amin stressed that Sudan’s budget will not be affected by the
decision to halt exporting the southern oil and pointed that tax and
custom revenues in the first quarter of the current fiscal year
yielded 92% with performance ratio of 116% , stressing that the budget
is running well without oil revenue.
The MP further disclosed that they are working with the finance
ministry on package of economic measures to reduce the deficit in the
balance of payments through substituting imports and engaging in
partnerships with the private sector in the sugar industry as well as
subsidizing the US dollar for exports.
But the prominent MP from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP)
Ghazi Salah Al-Deen al-Atabani, said in statements at the parliament
that Bashir’s decision could have been much stronger and far-reaching
if it was made through state’s institutions such as the parliament or
the cabinet.
Al-Atabani has been critical of the government and the NCP in recent
months which many observers believe was the reason behind removing him
as the head of the party’s parliamentary bloc.
The MP from the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) Ismail
Hussein, said that the decision means recreating the crisis that takes
relations between the two countries back to hostility, pointing that
the root solution lies in negotiating with the rebels.
(ST)
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