Upper Nile must keep crude flowing: South Sudan
Iran Press TV
Sat Feb 22, 2014 6:17PM GMT
The South Sudanese government has reversed a plan by local officials in the oil-rich state of Upper Nile to partially shut down oil production amid the ongoing violence in the area.
On Saturday, South Sudanese Minister in the Office of the President Awan Guor criticized the decision as "irrational," saying local authorities in Upper Nile adopted such a measure "without consultation with the national government."
The South Sudanese official further stated that the presence of rebel forces loyal to former vice president, Riek Machar, in the country's main oil-producing region "doesn't mean that our oil fields are in danger right now."
Since February 18, Malakal, the capital of the Upper Nile State, has been divided between the South Sudanese army soldiers and rebels after the forces loyal to Machar raided the city, and heavy fighting erupted between the two conflicting sides.
On Friday, local authorities in Upper Nile ordered the evacuation of foreign oil workers from the Adar and Gumri oil fields and a partial halt in the oil production in the embattled region because of "security precautions."
South Sudan has been grappling with deadly fighting since December 15, 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused his sacked deputy, Machar, of attempting to stage a coup.
The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and defectors, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's tribe against Machar's.
The violence continues in South Sudan despite a ceasefire signed on January 23 to end weeks of heavy fighting which led to the death of thousands of people in the world's youngest nation.
MKA/AB
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