Scarcity and surfeit : the ecology of Africa's conflicts

222 Scarcity and Surfeit

Ecological trend

1 Discovery of oil

Distributive agent!

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Ecological trend j

1 Environmental

Hypothesis: ecological marginalisotion of ethnic groups in oil-bearing regions

government's military action and purchase of advanced weaponry, intensify-
ing the military campaign against the inhabitants of the oil-bearing regions
and the rebels. Rebels, for their part, target facilities for oil production and
export due to their central importance to the government and to the compa-
nies upon which the government depends for revenues.

Discovery of Oil and Political Appropriation65

The last two decades of oil exploration and the battle for political control in

Sudan are closely correlated. This section explores the history and current allo-

cation of oil concessions in the country. It demonstrates that the discovery of oil

in the south led the central government to claim ownership of oil-producing

regions that historically were in the south. This sparked the formation of the

Sudan People's Revolutionary Army and violent protest by the local inhabitants,

culminating with the cessation of oil exploration and production in the Sudan.

Exploration for oil in Sudan began in the late 1950s, and was largely con-

ducted offshore in the Red Sea. Chevron first discovered natural gas in 1974,