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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Jan 05 2011 - 13:41:15 EST
U.S. to help south Sudan if it chooses independence
Wed Jan 5, 2011 6:06pm GMT
* U.S. says Sudan looking good on secession vote
* Oil-rich new state would get U.S. help on independence
* U.S. confident oil, border issues can be resolved
By Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The United States will help south Sudan set up
as an independent country if voters opt to secede in Sunday's referendum and
is pleased by cooperation from Khartoum, once seen as spoiling for war over
the oil-rich region, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson, the Obama administration's top
diplomat for Africa, said Washington was encouraged the referendum starting
on Jan. 9 would take place without a hitch, starting a process most analysts
expect to result in south Sudan formally declaring independence in July.
"We think that it will reflect the will of the people, that it will occur on
time, peacefully and in a well-organized manner," Carson told reporters.
Carson said the United States stood ready to help south Sudan to achieve
full independence, a tantalizing prospect for an impoverished and landlocked
region that is one of Africa's budding oil producers.
"The United States has invested a great deal of diplomacy to ensure that the
outcome of this referendum is successful and peaceful," Carson said, calling
the weeklong vote for south Sudan the culmination of years of work following
a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest civil war.
"We will also as a country help that new nation to succeed, get on its feet
and to move forward successfully, economically and politically."
The United States has led pressure on the Khartoum government of President
Omar Hassan al-Bashir not to impede the secession vote. Carson said
Washington was "extraordinarily pleased" by Bashir's statements on a trip to
the south Sudan capital of Juba on Tuesday that Khartoum was ready to let
the south go.
"We hope that the north ... will live up to those very promising
statements," Carson said.
Bashir's visit is the latest sign that the referendum, which many analysts
earlier said threatened to spark a return to war between the north and the
south, may unfold peacefully.
Key issues including borders, citizenship and the fate of the oil-rich
region of Abyei remain to be decided, making the six-month transition period
following the secession vote a potentially dangerous period.
RAMPING UP QUICKLY
U.S. officials are already working on a development plan for an independent
south Sudan, which accounts for 70 percent of Sudan's overall oil
production.
The United States is ready to recognize the new government quickly and
appoint an ambassador to help lead efforts to improve basic infrastructure,
healthcare, and education as well as trade and investment, officials said.
"We anticipate ramping this up very quickly after the referendum," said
Larry Garber, the deputy administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for
International Development.
A senior U.S. official, speaking on background, denied suggestions the
United States was motivated primarily by a interest in south Sudan's oil,
which remains a key sticking point in dealings between Khartoum and Juba and
which has been largely off limits to western oil companies thanks to U.S.
sanctions imposed on Sudan in 1997.
North and south Sudan are now trying to work out how to share oil revenues
after an independence vote, and the U.S. official said Washington was
confident the two sides would reach a political agreement.
"We are fully confident that those arrangements can be made and a resolution
can be made, on oil, on other economic issues, (and) on debt which is very
important," he said.
Officials were also upbeat on the prospect for Abyei, an oil-rich border
region both sides claim. While months of talks have yet to produce agreement
on Abyei, another senior U.S. official said it was no longer a potential
flashpoint for war.
"We think that while the political issues have not been resolved, they will
not lead to any major violence," he said. (Editing by Bill Trott)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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