IN POST MELESE ZENAWIE PERIOD JUBA PACT COULD DIM KENYA’S REFINERY PROSPECT

The plan of Zenawie and Kenya to cut Sudan out  and keep Somalia in turmoil is cleaning out after the death of the notorious dictator's  death. 

The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan have resolved to end their differences over oil production, a move that could rule out Kenya’s plans to erect a new refinery in Lamu to refine South Sudan oil. The two presidents, Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudan counterpart Salva Kiir, who met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this week, are understood to have agreed to set up a framework that would see South Sudan resume pumping oil to the north for refining at Port Sudan. Both declined to give any details to the media, although they acknowledged that their respective technical teams had instructions to complete a deal by next week.

“We look forward to celebration very soon,” Salva Kiir said as he left the conference centre in Addis Ababa.

Juba stopped pumping petroleum in January after accusing Khartoum of stealing its oil, leaving the two countries’ economies limping. The two nearly went to war in April over differences over their common border, oil revenues and ownership of the disputed region of Abyei where much of the oil is located.

As a way out, Juba struck a deal with Kenya to establish a refinery and a pipeline to Lamu. That development now appears unlikely - the UN has threatened sanctions if the current talks fail.

The two Sudans separated in July 2011, with Juba inheriting two-thirds of the region’s oil while Khartoum retained the processing and export facilities. The deal with Kenya was bound to cripple Khartoum’s economy, hence the talks. To complicate Kenya’s chances, its current oil exploration activities in the Turkana area have yielded too little oil to justify the construction of a refinery in Lamu.