WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sudan and South Sudan are playing a dangerous economic version of Russian roulette that threatens the success of both countries, the top US official for the region said on the first anniversary of South Sudan’s independence.
Princeton Lyman, US special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, said frayed relations between Juba and Khartoum will slow desperately needed growth unless they can negotiate settlements to the border and oil issues that remain unresolved one year after the South seceded.
“Each side thinks the other is more vulnerable,” Lyman said. “But it is a very dangerous attitude. It is kind of a mutual economic suicide approach.”
Lyman’s grim assessment came despite US pressure on both sides to resolve their differences, which threaten to overshadow the peaceful emergence of South Sudan as Africa’s newest independent state.
President Barack Obama’s administration has promised to assist South Sudan economically and offered Khartoum – which is on Washington’s official list of state sponsors of terrorism and has been under a US trade embargo since 1997 – the prospect of better ties if the lingering disputes can be put to rest.
Landlocked South Sudan erased 98 per cent of its revenue in January when it shut down oil production over a dispute with Khartoum about revenue sharing and fees for a pipeline through Sudan – the South’s only outlet for its oil exports.
South Sudan, already one of the poorest countries in the world, now struggles to provide basic services to its roughly 8.2 million citizens and has left many of its people questioning when they will see material benefits of independence.
Khartoum, which lost three quarters of its oil output and much of its income when the South seceded, is now battling inflation and other economic woes that have led to spreading public protests.
