Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Despite Darfur, Indian investments balloon in Sudan

This highlights the importance of oil-rich Sudan.

Sudan is the biggest recipient of India’s foreign investment.

Note: China uses Sudan not only for their oil; Sudan is also the base for Chinese oil operations elsewhere in Africa. And it appears China is willing to trade weapons for oil to Sudan’s radical Islamist government among others.

"China has sought energy cooperation with countries of concern to the United States, including Iran and Sudan, which are inaccessible by U.S. and other western firms. Some analysts have voiced suspicions that China may have offered WMD-related transfers as a component of some of its energy deals," noted the Commission.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/6/17/135930.shtml
#msg-3645404

The main investor in the Sudanese oil industry is the China National Petroleum Company, and China is Sudan’s biggest trading partner overall.[2] It has been alleged that there are Chinese soldiers in Sudan protecting Chinese oil interests there, and that these troops have engaged in skirmishes with the rebels.[3] Moreover, while there are numerous foreign oil companies present in Sudan, it is precisely in Southern Darfur that the Chinese National Petroleum Company has its concessions. USAID, the American humanitarian agency, has helpfully provided a map of Sudan showing precisely where the oil concessions are. http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/sudan/map_oil.pdf)
#msg-3678761
#msg-3758175

Because Sudan is as a ‘country of concern’ along with Iran the United States can only watch as other countries avail themselves of oil and gas from these two large producers. A predicament the United States will attempt to remedy by various means.

The recent deaths of 30,000 Sudanese are but a subchapter in a conflict that has been raging for more than two decades, and which according to modest estimates has taken the lives of more than 1.2 million people.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1091072352915

It is only now that Sudan has become a base for Chinese and Indian oil operations that we are ‘concerned’ about the Sudanese.

-Am

Despite Darfur, Indian investments balloon in Sudan:

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) :

Even as the "humanitarian crisis" in Sudan's Darfur region hogs global attention, India is making huge investments in the oil-rich North African country that is set to become a major source for New Delhi's energy requirements.

In all, India is set to invest nearly $2 billion in Sudan, making Khartoum the biggest recipient of New Delhi's foreign investment. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) concluded a $198 million deal in Khartoum in June to lay a 714-km-long pipeline linking the capital Khartoum with Port Sudan.

The latest investment came less than two years after the public sector ONGC Videsh Ltd., the overseas arm of the public sector oil exploration major, invested $750 million in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company of Sudan.

ONGC has also entered into an agreement for setting up a huge oil refinery in Port Sudan as a joint venture at an estimated investment of $800 million and acquired two new oil blocks - 5A and 5B - adjacent to the one where it is already prospecting for oil for another $105 million.

"Given our friendly relations and long, historic ties, India is our preferred partner," says Sudanese Ambassador to India Abdalmahood Abdalhaleem.

"The leadership of Sudan has said that repeatedly," the envoy told IANS.

During President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's visit to Sudan last year, India had announced a $50 million credit line for the rehabilitation of the country's ailing power, railway and agriculture sectors.

"We believe India is a leader in these fields," the envoy said, adding RITES had already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sudan Railways for the rehabilitation of the country's entire rail network.

Sudan, the largest nation in Africa, is literally sitting on a lake of oil. With the country's oil production set to climb to one billion barrels a day by 2006 from the present 5-600,000 barrels, it was all set to become a hot international investment destination.

And it was savouring the signing of a peace agreement between the government and southern rebels after years of civil war when the international focus fell on the developments in Darfur and shattered hopes of peace and progress.

Asked if India side had expressed concern about the developments in Darfur and its impact on Indian investments, the Sudanese envoy said New Delhi had not raised the issue.

Anyway, Darfur is far from the oil-producing central, southern and southeastern regions of the country, he noted.

The UN Security Council, in a resolution on July 30, gave the Sudanese government 30 days to disarm Janjaweed Arab militias blamed for the deaths of thousands in the western Darfur region or face diplomatic and economic penalties.

India has refrained from joining the chorus of international condemnation of Sudan over Darfur developments. The external affairs ministry said the two countries have "traditionally enjoyed close and friendly relations".

"India has been following the developments in Darfur and is encouraged by the steps that the government of Sudan is taking to normalise the situation in the region.

"The humanitarian situation in the region has naturally been a matter of concern.

India will gift 20,000 tonnes of wheat to Sudan "by way of humanitarian assistance for the people of the Darfur region," officials said said.

According to the Sudanese envoy, the alleged rights violations in the region bordering Chad were "a calculated attempt to use us as a scapegoat." He said the ethnic clashes between the local farming community and nomadic tribes, aggravated by years of drought in the region, were being used to present a picture of genocide.

"This is a malignant attempt to disrupt social fabric of the society and divide the nation. It is similar to the WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) they said were there in Iraq but never found," he added.

"Rather than contributing to solution of the problem they are becoming part of the problem," he charged.


http://news.newkerala.com/special-features/index.php?action=fullnews&id=7981