NAIROBI: South Sudan has sent its troops to neighboring Sudan to guard the strategic Heglig oil field near the border, its military head said on Thursday, days after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of it.
Heglig houses the main processing facility for South Sudanese oil, which makes up the bulk of South Sudan’s public revenues. Some oil has continued to flow through Heglig, though at much reduced volumes.
Sudanese government forces and workers at the Heglig oil field withdrew from the area on Sunday to avoid fighting that could have damaged facilities there, government sources told Reuters on Monday.
General Paul Nang, South Sudan chief of defense forces, said the troop deployment was agreed between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, Sudan Army Chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and RSF head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
“The three agreed that the area of Heglig should be protected because (it) is a very important strategic area for the two countries,” Nang said in comments on state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Radio.
“Now it is the forces of South Sudan that are in Heglig.”
Oil is transported through the Greater Nile pipeline system to Port Sudan on the Red Sea for export, making the Heglig site critical both for Sudan’s foreign exchange earnings and for South Sudan, which is landlocked and relies almost entirely on pipelines through Sudan.
Another pipeline, Petrodar, runs from South Sudan’s Upper Nile State to Port Sudan.
The war that started in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the RSF has repeatedly disrupted South Sudan’s oil flows, which before the conflict averaged between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels per day for export via Sudan.
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South Sudan says its troops are guarding strategic Heglig oil field in Sudan
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South Sudan says its troops are guarding strategic Heglig oil field in Sudan
- Sudanese government forces and workers at the Heglig oil field withdrew from the area on Sunday to avoid fighting that could have damaged facilities there
Israeli cabinet approves West Bank land registration, Palestinians condemn ‘de-facto annexation’
JERUSALEM: Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved further measures to tighten Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, in a move Palestinians called “a de-facto annexation.”
The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.
His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.
Ministers voted in favor of beginning a process of land registration for the first time since 1967.
“We are continuing the revolution of settlement and strengthening our hold across all parts of our land,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s government.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said land registration was a vital security measure designed to ensure control, enforcement, and full freedom of action for Israel in the area to protect its citizens and safeguard national interests.
The cabinet said in a statement registration was an “appropriate response to illegal land registration processes promoted by the Palestinian Authority,” and would end disputes.
The PA presidency rejected the cabinet’s decision, saying it constitutes “a de-facto annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and a declaration of the commencement of annexation plans aimed at entrenching the occupation through illegal settlement activity.”
US President Donald Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel’s accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.
The United Nations’ highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view, saying it has historical and biblical ties to the land.
The land registration adds to a series of measures taken earlier this month to expand control.
The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.
His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.
Ministers voted in favor of beginning a process of land registration for the first time since 1967.
“We are continuing the revolution of settlement and strengthening our hold across all parts of our land,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s government.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said land registration was a vital security measure designed to ensure control, enforcement, and full freedom of action for Israel in the area to protect its citizens and safeguard national interests.
The cabinet said in a statement registration was an “appropriate response to illegal land registration processes promoted by the Palestinian Authority,” and would end disputes.
The PA presidency rejected the cabinet’s decision, saying it constitutes “a de-facto annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and a declaration of the commencement of annexation plans aimed at entrenching the occupation through illegal settlement activity.”
US President Donald Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel’s accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.
The United Nations’ highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view, saying it has historical and biblical ties to the land.
The land registration adds to a series of measures taken earlier this month to expand control.
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