Heglig

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Coordinates: 10 ° 0 '  N , 29 ° 24'  E

Map: Sudan
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Heglig​
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Sudan

Heglig (sometimes also written Heglieg ; Arabic هجليج, DMG Hiǧlīǧ for " desert date "), known as Panthou in South Sudan , is a small town in the state of Gharb Kurdufan (West Kurdufan) in southern Sudan , near the border with South Sudan. The most important oil reserves of Sudan are located nearby. In April 2012, Heglig was occupied by South Sudanese troops.

history

Oil discoveries and civil war

Chevron discovered the Heglig oil field in the late 1970s. During the Second Civil War in South Sudan 1983-2005, the area was fiercely contested and the population in the area suffered serious human rights violations. South Sudanese rebels from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) attacked the Heglig oil production facilities in order to damage this potential source of income for the Sudanese government. Government troops and pro -government militias began to drive Dinka civilians out of the area in 1992 in order to make it more difficult for the rebels to penetrate the oil areas. A large base of the Sudanese army was located in Heglig.

In 1996, the Canadian company Arakis (later acquired by Talisman Energy ) commissioned eight oil wells. From then on, small amounts of oil from the Heglig oil field were processed in a refinery in al-Ubayyid and sold within Sudan. In 1999 the pipeline of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company , which connects Heglig via Khartoum with Bur Sudan on the Red Sea , was inaugurated , and for the first time it exported oil from Sudan.

Since the independence of South Sudan (2011), the oil reserves near Heglig have been the largest in the remaining Sudan and contribute around half of the country's oil production.

Dispute about belonging

Heglig was part of the Abyei district and therefore controversial between Sudan and South Sudan. According to the decision of the International Court of Justice in 2009, which was recognized by both sides, the city and the oil field no longer belong to the still controversial Abyei area . This decision was based on the fact that Heglig was not one of the nine chiefdoms of the Ngok-Dinka, which were transferred from the southern province of Bahr al-Ghazal to northern Kordofan in 1905 . However, it has not been clarified where the border between Kordofan (north) and Upper Nile (south) ran in the area of ​​the Rueng- or Ruweng-Dinka . Depending on the circumstances, this border could represent an argument for belonging to South Sudan. The contemporary maps are inconclusive and there are no towns in the area, as the administration hardly made it here.

In the course of the clashes in 2012, South Sudan once again questioned Sudan's claim to the area. The South Sudanese government took the position that the International Court of Justice had made a binding decision that Heglig did not belong to the Abyei area, but that this did not necessarily mean that Heglig was part of Sudan. Some South Sudanese lay claim to Heglig, which they refer to as Aling or Panthou ; these are the names in the languages Dinka and Nuer for the tree species called Heglig in Arabic. On May 4, 2012, the government of South Sudan published a new official map showing Heglig as part of South Sudan.

Fight 2012

On April 9, 2012, the South Sudanese army and rebel groups from Darfur and the Nuba Mountains brought the oil field defended by the Sudan People's Armed Forces (SAF) and the city of Heglig under their control. According to South Sudanese sources, they were pursuing Sudanese troops who wanted to advance south. The Sudanese Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein announced that he would “bring Heglig back by force.” An advance by Sudanese troops was repulsed on April 13 by the South Sudanese side. South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit said that South Sudan would not withdraw its troops until international peacekeeping forces were stationed in Heglig and there was a guarantee that the area would not serve as a base for attacks on the south. On April 17, the South Sudanese government announced that a Sudanese MiG-29 had been shot down over the oil field.

On April 20, the South Sudanese Minister of Information, Barnaba Marial Benjamin , announced the withdrawal of his country's troops. The Sudanese government, however, reported that Heglig had been militarily "liberated".

On April 23, all South Sudanese troops had withdrawn. According to the South Sudanese government, it was a voluntary withdrawal, whereas the Sudanese government stated that the withdrawal was militarily enforced and 1,200 South Sudanese soldiers were killed.

Infrastructure

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, New York, NY et al. 2003, ISBN 1-564-32291-2 , p. 78.
  2. ^ Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, New York, NY et al. 2003, ISBN 1-564-32291-2 , p. 95
  3. ^ Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, New York, NY et al. 2003, ISBN 1-564-32291-2 , pp. 125 f., 289
  4. ^ Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, New York, NY et al. 2003, ISBN 1-564-32291-2 , pp. 123 f., 553.
  5. ↑ Sudan attacked at dawn. In: Tages-Anzeiger Online , April 12, 2012.
  6. ^ Sudan welcomes oil border ruling. In: BBC News , July 22, 2009.
  7. ^ Douglas H. Johnson: Note on Panthou / Heglig . (PDF; 2.2 MB). In: Sudan Tribune , May 2, 2012.
  8. ^ Juba disputes Sudan's ownership of Heglig, slams Bashir's threats . In: Sudan Tribune , April 20, 2012.
  9. ^ Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, New York, NY et al. 2003, ISBN 1-564-32291-2 , pp. 78, 95, 391.
  10. ↑ South Sudan's new official map includes Heglig . In: Sudan Tribune , May 4, 2012.
  11. ↑ Roman Deckert, Tobias Simon: Sudan and South Sudan: The War a Chance. In: Inamo . Vol. 70, summer 2012, p. 69.
  12. ↑ South Sudan conquers oil field in border area
  13. ^ Sudan vows response after surprise loss of oil-rich town to SPLA. In: Sudan Tribune , April 11, 2012.
  14. ↑ Sudan wants to recapture the oil field by all means. In: Focus Online , April 13, 2012.
  15. ↑ South Sudan army repulse SAF attempt to retake Heglig - VP. Machar. In: Sudan Tribune , April 14, 2011.
  16. ↑ Sudanese military plane shot down. In: ORF.at , April 17, 2012.
  17. ↑ South Sudan withdraws from controversial oil field. In: ORF . April 20, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012 .
  18. ↑ Breaking news: Sudan declares “liberation” of Heglig as Juba announces SPLA pullout. In: Sudan Tribune , April 20, 2012.
  19. ↑ Dominic Johnson : "The Language of the Gun". In: the daily newspaper . April 24, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2012 .