Two wire-service stories:
From AFP, reprinted on ReliefWeb...
Sudan has formed a joint petroleum commission to allocate equal shares of oil resources to the country's north and south, 10 months after a landmark peace agreement, officials said Monday.
The panel was formed by President Omar al-Beshir on Sunday and is seen as key feature of the peace agreement which ended 21 years of deadly civil strife in Africa's largest country.
The National Petroleum Commission (NPC) is being co-chaired by Beshir and the country's First Vice President Salva Kiir, who heads the former southern rebel movement.
The NPC will include members of the national unity government, the government of south Sudan and officials from the oil-producing states.
The new body, which was due to have been created before the start in July of the six-year period of joint interim rule, will set the country's oil policies and review any new contracts.
Sudan produces more than 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) and hopes to raise its crude production to half a million bpd by the end of the year. The sprawling country has proven reserves of around 560 million barrels.
From the AP, reprinted on Sudan Tribune...
President Omar al-Beshir established a commission Sunday that will draw up the country’s oil policy to provide an equal share of the wealth to the country’s former southern rebels.
The commission was set up under a January peace agreement that ended Africa’s longest war.
The official Sudan News Agency (SUNA) said al-Beshir also set up an evaluation commission to monitor implementation of the peace agreement during a six-year interim period.
The peace accord, signed by the government and the former southern rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, provides for an autonomous south with its own army, government and a new constitution during that interim period. It ended a 21-year civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south that left about 2 million people dead.
After the six-year interim period, the 10 southern states will hold a referendum on independence.
The oil commission will be co-chaired by al-Beshir and the president of the southern Sudan government. It is to include equal numbers of representatives from both the national government and the southern government and oil producing states of Sudan.
SUNA said el-Bashir will also form other commissions called for by the agreement, including a national commission for elections and a human rights commission.
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