The two Sudans are true Siamese twins

Over the past few months, there has been concern over the future ties of Sudan and South Sudan after the escalation of tension on their joint border and trading of accusations.

But in spite of all these challenges, one can say the two countries are economically intertwined. The economy brings them together, necessitates their co-operation, and lays a solid ground for future relations in all fields.

One of the strongest uniting factors is oil, a commodity that became the mainstay of Sudan’s economy since it was firstly exported in August 1999.

Before the secession of South Sudan in July, the country was producing around 500,000 barrels of oil per day. Oil revenue used to constitute around 55-60 per cent of the central government’s budget and about 90 per cent of its exports.

Due to the long conflict which spanned the periods 1955-1972 and 1983-2005, the economy of South Sudan was devastated.

The physical and social infrastructure as well as the agricultural and industrial projects built during the years of peace were destroyed during the conflict.

Investments were discouraged by the security situation. When South Sudan emerged as a sovereign nation in July 2011, its economy depended mainly on oil, with 95 per cent of the government budget and more than 98 per cent of the country’s exports coming from oil.

Infrastructure

Currently, South Sudan’s oil is exported through two pipelines to Port Sudan: one from Unity State and the other from Upper Nile State. Crude from the two areas cannot be transported by one pipeline due to differences in quality.

Besides the pipeline, other oil infrastructure such as a refinery, central processing units and exports terminals are located in the Sudan.

Alternative pipelines to Mombasa, Douala in Cameroon and Djibouti proved to be too expensive to construct and would take too long.

Due to these factors, the government of Sudan agreed to let South Sudan export its oil through Sudanese infrastructure until the two countries agree on a formula.

On the other hand, Sudan can assist the nascent state in building its capacity in the oil sector since more than 90 per cent of the human resources in this sector are Sudanese.

Due to geographical proximity and the availability of transport infrastructure, including the cheap river transport, commodities like sugar, edible oil, cement, and wheat flour can find their way to consumers in South Sudan at reasonable prices if they are imported from Sudan. South Sudan can export tobacco, rice, tea, coffee, timber and pineapples to Sudan.

South Sudan can also use Sudanese ports for its exports and imports, especially those destined to or coming from the states that straddle the borders between the two countries.

Thus, it is evident that there are huge opportunities for economic co-operation between Sudan and South Sudan that can contribute to achieving development.

What hinders the attainment of this potential is the existence of some elements who are hostage to the past. They are still at the stage of conflict. They do not embrace peace and co-existence.

Let us hope that the Sudanese people in both countries will prevail over all those spoilers and live in peace and prosperity.

Mr Mofadal is a diplomat at the Sudan Embassy in Nairobi.