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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Mar 23 2011 - 13:00:31 EST
Foreign groups snap up South Sudan farmland-report
Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:41pm GMT
* Foreign interests seek/buy 26,400 km of S.Sudan land
* Investment previously thought eyeing north Sudan
By Deepa Babington
KHARTOUM, March 23 (Reuters) - Foreign interests have snapped up large
swathes of land in strife-riven southern Sudan in just a few years,
threatening food supplies and the displacement of local people if left
unchecked, a report said.
Sudan has emerged as one of the hotspots for the acquisition of African
farmland, which has become a target for countries including China and Gulf
Arab states, which seek to secure food supplies.
Rights groups have warned that what they see as a "land grab" risks
worsening hunger and heightening social tensions in poor African nations.
Much of the foreign investment in Sudanese land was thought to have been in
the north, but there have been a surprising number of large-scale land
investments in southern Sudan, a study prepared for the Norwegian People's
Aid said.
South Sudan, which has been wracked by conflict for much of the past 50
years, is set to become Africa's newest nation after voting to secede from
Khartoum. The region has remained tense ahead of expected independence in
July, with violence erupting frequently in border regions.
"The amount of investor interest is remarkable given the uncertainty of the
current transitional context," the report said.
Land disputes have fueled deadly tribal conflict among the heavily armed
civilian population in the south since a 2005 peace deal ended decades of
civil war, and policy on land ownership remains opaque.
Foreign governments, companies and people sought or acquired about 26,400
km, or 2.64 million hectares of land in southern Sudan from 2007 to 2010 for
agriculture, biofuel and forestry projects, the report said.
Adding in domestic investments, certain agriculture schemes, investments in
tourism and conservation, the figure rises to 57,400 sq km, or 9 percent of
the region's total land area.
PROCEDURES NEEDED
Some of the largest deals include one by an Emirati company called Al Ain
Wildlife, which has reportedly leased the entire area of Boma National Park
at 22,800 sq km, while an American company, Nile Trading and Development,
has reportedly leased 6,000 sq km of land outside the southern capital Juba,
the report said.
"While in theory, this influx of investment could provide development
opportunities for rural communities, without the appropriate procedures in
place there is a danger that it will serve to undermine livelihoods," the
report said.
Among the biggest threats to the local population is potential displacement,
since many of the projects are in densely populated areas, the report said.
However, there were no reports of forced evictions due to the projects, it
said.
The report also cited "serious deficiencies" in the extent to which local
communities were being consulted over the land investment and said that
lease amounts tended to be rather low compared with the value of the land.
The report also cautioned that some of the investment projects may never
take off, either voided by the government or threatened by land disputes or
conflicts.
It urged companies and governments to open up documents related to
investment projects for public review and to temporarily ban all large-scale
land acquisitions until government institutions are better established.
A U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation official last year urged African
governments to avoid rushing into big land lease deals with foreign
investors or risk deepening poverty and ramping up social tensions.
(Editing by Jane Baird)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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INTERVIEW-Sudan's Abyei must be resolved before secession-Norway
Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:04pm GMT
* Abyei is the major bone of north-south contention
* Oil sharing should continue post July 9 secession
* Debt relief essential for Khartoum
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, March 23 (Reuters) - Sudan's Abyei region will fester as a
cancerous international dispute between north and south and needs to be
resolved ahead of the south's independence in July, Norway's deputy foreign
minister said on Wednesday.
Oslo, Washington and London form a troika of key guarantors for the 2005
north-south peace deal which ended Africa's longest civil war and Norway
plays a key advisory role in Sudan's oil sector.
South Sudan in January voted to secede from the north -- the end game of the
accord.
"A local conflict fuelled by outside forces will have a very negative impact
on everything that is going well so (Abyei) will be a cancer in the middle
that the parties will suffer from," Espen Barth Eide told Reuters during a
visit to Khartoum.
"It's extremely concerning if the unsettled borders are still not agreed
before July 9 -- our primary position is that they have to be settled," he
said.
Otherwise, it would become an international dispute requiring a commission
with international mediation, souring relations between the future
neighbours.
Central and oil-producing Abyei is claimed by both north and south in a
deadlocked dispute which Eide said was likely to be resolved as part of a
wider package including agreeing on issues such as citizenship and sharing
oil revenues.
Eide said Norway was advising the south to use existing oil infrastructure
in the north rather than insisting on building new pipelines and refineries
post secession. Some 75 percent of Sudan's 500,000 bpd of crude lies in the
south.
"It is not viable to build another pipeline...it can be done but the cost
far exceeds any benefit in the commercial sense," he said, adding there was
not that much oil and it was low quality so any stoppage could clog the
system for months.
He also said the loss of income for the south -- which derives 98 percent of
its budget from oil revenues -- as it built the necessary crude
infrastructure would be devastating and warned Western donors would not take
up the slack.
NO TIME TO WASTE
"South Sudan needs to be built now, not in five years," he said.
The ideal situation would be a gradual reduction in the percentage share of
revenues between north and south -- currently around 50:50 -- while overall
production increased so as to reduce the shock to both economies, Eide said.
"The north will not be able to absorb an immediate mass reduction (of
revenues) but we don't think the south is ready to absorb a massive increase
also...it would probably be misspent if a lot of money appeared in Juba with
no clear plan," Eide said, referring to the southern seat of government.
He said Norway was advocating the relief of Sudan's debilitating external
debt, which totals almost $40 billion, if it fully implemented the
north-south peace deal.
Norway was organising a conference on macro-economic reform in Khartoum with
U.S., British and Arab participation before July 9, he added.
In economic crisis, Khartoum is intent on securing debt relief to ensure
access to concessional loans for development as foreign exchange shortages
and inflation bite in the oil-dependent economy.
Eide said after meeting northern officials they realised economic reforms
were necessary to move forward, especially given unrest in the Middle East,
and he hoped the conference would provide them with positive ideas.
"They have to live in the real world. They will not be eternally oil rich
and they will not receive a lot of donations for nothing so they have to
create an economy that works and that requires budgetary discipline and
strict regulation, accounting and oversight," he said.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir this year promised a first
anti-corruption commission but has yet to form the body.
(Reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Sophie Hares)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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