South Sudan | - Part 2

Hunger Used as a Weapon of War in South Sudan, Amnesty Says

JUBA (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Sudanese government forces and rebels have used hunger as a weapon of war in a region once seen as the country’s breadbasket that’s been ravaged by killings, gang-rapes and looting over the past year, Amnesty International said. Civilians’ access to food in the southern region of Equatorial, where conflict spread last July, is “severely limited” after combatants cut supplies, looted from markets and homes and targeted civilians, the…

AfDB Plans $1.1 Billion Loans, Grants to Drought-Hit Countries

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South Sudan (Capital Markets in Africa) – The African Development Bank is considering providing $1.1 billion of loans and grants to countries affected by drought and famine. The funding will be discussed at a meeting of the Abidjan, Ivory Coast-based lender’s board on Wednesday, Gabriel Negatu, the bank’s head for East Africa, said in an interview in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The money will be provided to war-torn South Sudan, where a famine was declared in February, as well…

South Sudan Seeks New Oil Investors After Total Talks Collapse

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Sudan’s government opened negotiations on two of its biggest oil blocks to new investors after discussions with Total SA collapsed. Discussions about blocks B1 and B2 with the French oil company over the past two weeks reached an impasse over the proposed exploration period and “cost-recovery limit,” Petroleum Minister Ezekiel Lol Gakuoth said in a statement he forwarded by email on Monday. Total didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for…

War-Ravaged South Sudan Draws $500 Million Oranto Oil Bet

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum International Ltd. plans to bet half a billion dollars that Africa’s newest nation can end a three-year civil war and create the conditions to revive its oil industry. Oranto, a closely held company part-owned by the Eze family that also has assets in Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria, plans to invest $500 million to develop the oil block awarded by South Sudan earlier this month. “We have faith that the differences in…

‘Timebomb’ Road Is Economy Lifeline in World’s Newest Nation

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SOUTH SUDAN, Capital Markets in Africa: When trucker James Okumu slams his pedal to the floor for the three-hour drive between South Sudan’s capital and the Ugandan border, he feels like he’s sitting on a timebomb. “You don’t know when it will explode,” said the 37-year-old Ugandan, who regularly plies the 195-kilometer (121-mile) route to transport vegetables and rice to Juba from his home country. Unidentified gunmen have ambushed buses and fuel-tankers on the winding road this month,…

Infrastructure | South Sudan Seeks $1.9 Billion Chinese Loan as Inflation Rockets

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South Sudan, Capital Markets in Africa: it’s seeking a $1.9 billion loan from China to develop its oilfields and roads, as the war-torn African country battles inflation that exceeded 660 percent last month. Foreign Minister Deng Alor Kuol requested the financial assistance during arecent visit to the Asian nation and the Export-Import Bank of China “is working on this loan,” ministry spokesman Mawien Makol Arik said Tuesday by phone from the capital, Juba. South Sudan has sub-Saharan Africa’s…

Infrastructure | South Sudan to Tap Solar Amid Teetering Peace Deal

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South Sudan, Capital Markets in Africa: Gigawatt Global Cooperatief UA, an Amsterdam-based renewable-energy developer, is working on South Sudan’s first solar project even as the country’s cease-fire teeters. The world’s youngest country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, struck a peace deal in August after a two-year civil war. Sitting atop Africa’s third-largest oil reserves, South Sudan has no working central electricity system and is powered entirely by privately owned diesel generators. “Some of…

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