are then provided to the organization, which drafts forms to be used in the forthcoming collection of samples.
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The South learns how to assert its interest
A land experiencing a chaotic disruption, one caused by the strife among its groups and interests: that is the general picture of the Sudan. Contradicting this depiction of a country tearing itself part are the clearly-established guidelines that have been established in the Sudan. They apply to the handling of oil reserves. These guidelines mandate this processing’s conforming to societal and environmental principles. Due to these, no one can claim lack of awareness of the perils arising from the failure to adhere to these.
While the peace talks were being conducted between the conflicting parties, a meeting held in Kenya in January 2004 had established that the exploitation of Sudan’s natural resources would observe standards of sustainability. The Basic Memorandum signed on January 7, 2004 would go on to become Chapter III of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005.6 Subscribed to by the parties, the Memorandum’s Point III. 1.10 stated that the sharing of prosperity would be the principle informing the responsible treatment of the resources available. The Point stated: “that the best-known method of the sustainable utilization and control of natural resources shall follow.”7 What this meant: the exploitation of the country’s natural resources was to adhere to international standards.
The principles governing the utilization of oil resources were listed discretely in sub-point 3 of this Memorandum. Precisely-formulated requirements were created. They were designed to make the oil exploration and exploitation environmentally and socially compatible. As this shows, representatives of the government and of the rebels were aware at this time of the drilling for oil’s being associated with especially-grave disruptions in the habitats in which flora and fauna live—and of the need to keep this in mind. According to this agreement, the preservation of national interests and public welfare were to be given highest priority when prospecting for and extracting oil8. To be accorded the same importance were to be, in addition, the interests of regions involved9 and of the local population10. The listing of the principles also included the preconditions governing the reaching of all further decisions, the need to adhere to national environmental regulations, the directives for the preservation of biodiversity, and the principles for the protection of the cultural heritage.11 The Agreement gave rise to the National Petroleum Commission (NPC). Its board was to be comprised of representatives from both parties—on an equal basis. The Commission was charged with the responsibility for creating a body of rules implementing the above points and to be adhered to by the oil industry.12 The NPC was also to negotiate the contracts with extractors of oil.
The Agreement thus brought an end—at least on paper—to the era in which the people of Southern Sudan were at the mercy of the schemes of the North, in which the former could be exploited, expelled or massacred as so wished by the latter. A variety of cease-fire agreements notwithstanding, conflicts kept on breaking out until 2003 between the government’s troops and the rebels. The era was also marked by the full-scale attacks perpetrated upon the country’s civilians. These conflicts were motivated by the will to maintain or obtain control over oil fields. The government’s chief reason for waging war was, however, to enable its contractual partners’ undisturbed drilling for oil. Human rights organizations started reporting in 1999 on attacks being carried out against civilians. These were being carried out to drive them from the catchment areas of sources of oil.13 Although interrupted from time to time, the prospectors for oil did manage to overcome the disturbances ensuing from the civil war and to set forth their test drilling. These resulted in the pumping of oil.
In a first in the country’s history, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) elevated the Southern Sudanese to being equally-entitled partners. Representatives of the rebels’ party gained unimpeded access to the contracts concluded with oil extraction companies. They were empowered to commission technical experts with the assessment of the ramifications of these contracts.14 Regarded as being especially important was the evaluation of impacts already having taken place. These agreements were worth more than the paper they were printed on. In 2006, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) commissioned Norwegian experts with the compilation of an appraisal of the effects of oil extraction upon Southern Sudan. The appraisal was also to present the consequences of these, in view of the further expansion of the oil industry expected to occur.15
In 2007 and 2008, a team of experts from the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management traveled throughout Sudan. The experts held talks with representatives of the government and with other officials in Khartoum and Juba. The team then visited industrial facilities and waste disposal facilities. This enabled them to get a picture of the effects of and challenges posed by the drilling for and extracting of oil in Southern Sudan. When compiling this evaluation, the team used as criteria the applicable international standards and the experiences gained in other countries in dealing with the risks known to arise from comparable on-shore drilling. The team also factored in the special conditions prevailing on site. It did not gather samples of the water, soil or living beings found in the vicinity of oil drilling and transportation facilities. This procedure was normal. The prime objective of the evaluation was to detail the parameters from which further, concrete measures were to be derived. The team’s evaluation thus constituted a beginning, albeit one that came in a period in which the drilling for oil was well advanced in Southern Sudan.
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On February 6, 2008, two staff members of Sign of Hope embark upon a 10-day trip to Southern Sudan. They are accompanied by two influential journalists. One is a Kenyan who works for the “Agence France Presse” (“AFP”) news service. He joins the group in Nairobi. “AFP’s” office in Nairobi is staffed by experts who are very interested in developments in Southern Sudan. The reporter writes an article that is carried on the wires of “AFP”, which is one of the world’s largest news agencies. The other reporter is German who works for “Schwäbische Zeitung”, a daily based in the southwest part of the country. He too will go on to publish his impressions of the trip.
After stops in Nairobi and Juba, Sign of Hope’s group arrives on February 8, 2008 in the town of Raga. The group’s five-hour delay is due to their plane’s, a chartered bush aircraft, not being ready to fly. Raga’s “airport” is a long sandy trail. The “airport terminal” is a container. Raga has some 20’000 residents, making it one of the largest settlements in Southern Sudan. The town is located close to the (in those days) virtual border to northern Sudan. Its region is called Western Bahr el Ghazal.16 The town is the headquarters of the Commissioner for the County of Raga.
We make camp in Raga on a ground that is located within a secured area. The campground is in the immediate vicinity of traditional tukuls. Our group sleeps on foam rubber mats. We use camping cartridges to cook. Wandering animals are occasional visitors, with this especially occurring during the evening. We find a spider the size of a human palm. It must have hitched a ride in a rolled up pant leg. There is no other explanation for its suddenly making its present known in the middle of the night by noisily climbing up the tent—from the inside. In an instinctive move, one of us captures it using a coffee cup, which is then used to send the gigantic insect on its way in the great outdoors. From now on, pant cuffs are going to be subject to intensive inspection. From time to time, we hear the local residents’ yells. This signals the sighting of a poisonous snake. Nobody pays any attention to a waran, although this lizard is a meter and a half in length, as it meanders through the little settlement. A waran is not dangerous. It shows absolutely no interest in us as it waddles right past us, displaying no fear in the process.
In 2007, Sign of Hope set up an assistance project in Raga. Since then, one of the Comboni Missionaries has been heading an educational project. In 2001, the friars had been forced to flee the war. The conclusion of conflict allowed them to return to their base of operations. The friars rebuilt their schools, which had been badly damaged. Separated by genders, 1,200 children are taught at two elementary and one high school. Most of these children are from
