Sudan and its former civil war foe South Sudan have agreed to a restart of Southern Sudanese oil exports through pipelines in Sudan, more than a year since Juba took the unprecedented decision to shut down all its oil production. While this comes as good news to the peoples of both countries, past experience suggests the agreement alone may not be enough to get the oil flowing once again. This is, after all, the third such agreement in less than six months.

“Resumption of production shall take place as soon as technically feasible,” the agreement signed on 12 March read. Under the terms of the agreement distributed by the African Union (AU), the governments of both countries will be required to instruct oil companies within the coming 14 days to resume all crude oil production, processing and transportation activities. (CONTINUED - 805 WORDS)