CAIRO: The Sudan's President Omar Bashir told Egypt's Foreign Minister Kamel Amr on Sunday that his country is not prepared to resume negotiations with neighboring South Sudan unless their army, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) withdraws its troops from Heglig. Bashir asserted that Sudan reserves the right to respond to the occupation of Heglig in any manner that guarantees its security, sovereignty and stability, as reported by Sudan's official news agency SUNA. SUNA also said that the Egyptian Foreign Minister had conveyed a message to Bashir from Field Marshal Tantawi, the Head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which has been ruling Egypt since the fall of Mubarak last year. Amr explained that his country's efforts do not interfere with those of the African Union (AU), which has been facilitating talks between the Sudan and South Sudan. Amr further added that he came to Khartoum to listen to the views of the Sudan before visiting Juba today to meet South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Kiir and other South Sudanese officials have indicated no objection to resuming talks with Khartoum, but demanded guarantees for the withdrawal of the SPLA from Heglig, including the deployment of UN troops in the area and an agreement on cessation of hostilities. Khartoum, for its part, accuses South Sudan of trying to use Heglig as a bargaining chip to bring Khartoum to withdraw from Abyei, another disputed region that has been occupied by the Sudan since May last year. Additionally, Iran has added its voice to calls urging the Sudan and South Sudan to exercise self-restraint and Juba to withdraw troops from Heglig. Ramin Mehmanparast, spokesman of Iran's Foreign Ministry, said on Sunday that Tehran is urging South Sudan to withdraw forces from Heglig “as soon as possible and unconditionally.” Tehran said that “resolving the tension between the two states does not have a military solution,” according to reports in The Sudan Tribune. Heglig is extremely important to Khartoum because it represents roughly half of the Sudan's 115,000 barrel per day (bpd) oil output and the fighting has stopped production there. With South Sudan's secession last year the Sudan lost 75 percent of the country's oil production. Khartoum was hoping that transit fees on South Sudan's estimated 350,000 bpd output would help ease the loss. In an attempt to recoup the financial losses, Khartoum imposed a heavy tax on South Sudan's oil traveling through its pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Those transit fees account for 36 percent of the Sudan's budget. There are no other options for moving the oil, and when the land-locked South Sudan suspected Khartoum was siphoning the oil and asking for too much money, they responded but stopping oil extraction altogether. 98 percent of South Sudan's revenue is from oil; they are also considered one of the most under-developed regions in the world due to half a century of warfare with Khartoum. The Heglig oil fields are allocated to the Sudan, and South Sudan shocked the region when they moved last week to take possession of them. The United Nations and the African Union demanded a withdrawal, however, South Sudan has asked for an international peace-keeping force to take its place, which is not going over well. South Sudan maintains the region has been used for launching attacks into their sovereign territory. Al-Sawarmi Khalid, spokesman for the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), said, “We have not carried out attacks into South Sudan.” SPLA spokesperson Philip Aguer insisted Heglig is part of South Sudan.
