CAIRO: The Republic of South Sudan's military arm, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has shot down a MiG 29 jet fighter from the Sudan Air Force. The SPLA also claims to have successfully repelled the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) ground attack on the oil producing town of Heglig, on the border of the two nations. The SPLA seized Heglig one week ago, in a brash move that shocked the region. This, 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 SAF, said, “We have not carried out attacks into South Sudan.” SPLA spokesperson Philip Aguer insisted Heglig is part of South Sudan. The SPLA does not have an air force - however, the SPLA is winning the battle for now, and by brute force and determination. Pagan Amum, South Sudan's chief negotiator at the talks between the two nations that had been taking place in Addis Ababa until the latest fighting erupted, claimed on 4 April that the SPLA had shot down a Sudanese fighter jet sent to bomb the oil-rich Pan Akuac region in Unity State. At the time Al-Sawarmi Khalid denied the allegation.
