By Nicholas Bariyo
(Adds confirmation from Sudan, Clinton's remarks)
KAMPALA, Uganda--Newly independent South Sudan may soon resume oil output as well as vital oil exports following a tentative deal Friday on transit fees with former civil war foe Sudan, the country's information minister said Saturday.
According to Barnaba Benjamin, mediators in Addis Ababa facilitated a tentative deal Friday which will see South Sudan pay as much as $15 to ship every barrel of oil through Sudanese pipelines and ports for export after months of back-and-forth negotiations.
"We may resume production very soon" Mr. Benjamin said. "We are having the final meeting with the mediator today."
The oil transit spat flared up in January, prompting South Sudan to halt its 350,000 barrels-a-day oil production and shipments through Sudanese pipelines.
If endorsed by the both nations, the deal will mark a huge breakthrough for them. The two nations have been bickering over a string of disputes since South Sudan's secession in July. South Sudan has been struggling to cope with the loss of oil revenue since January, plunging the world's newest nation into an acute shortage of foreign exchange.
Thabo Mbeki, the African Union chief mediator, told reporters in Addis Ababa Friday that negotiators from the both countries had agreed on all "financial arrangements regarding oil."
"What will remain is to discuss the next steps as to when the oil companies should be asked to prepare for resumption of production and export," Mr. Mbeki was quoted as saying by the Ethiopian local media.
According to Mr. Benjamin, negotiations were continuing Saturday over a number of other disputes. Sudan's state news agency, SUNA confirmed Saturday that the Sudanese government had reached an agreement with South Sudan over oil transit fees but added that the deal would only be implemented after the conclusion of the ongoing talks over security along the common border.
The deal between the two nations came just a day after the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged a quick fix to the oil transit spat, during her visit to South Sudan on Friday.
"While South Sudan and Sudan have become separate states, their fortunes and their futures remain inextricably linked," Mrs. Clinton said. "It is urgent that both sides...follow through and reach timely agreements on all outstanding issues, including oil revenue, security, citizenship, and border demarcation."
Sudan had said on Friday that it won't sign an agreement on oil before resolving disputes along the 1,120-mile poorly marked common border. Sudan is battling multiple armed rebellions in at least three border states, allegedly backed by South Sudan.
Negotiations on oil appeared to hit a dead end earlier this week after both sides rejected each other's "last" offer on what South Sudan should pay to ship its crude through Sudan's pipelines and ports.
A deadline of Aug. 2, set by the United Nations requiring the two nations to resolve outstanding disputes, passed without a deal--raising fears of possible sanctions against their already ailing economies.
Mr. Mbeki is expected to brief the U.N. Security Council over the progress of the negotiations on Aug. 9. Diplomats say that the Security Council is unlikely to impose sanctions, given the progress of the negotiations.
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