THE HAGUE, Netherlands AP – An international arbitration panel on Wednesday awarded the Sudanese government control over almost all major oil reserves in a disputed region of Sudan that erupted into violence last year between state forces and former rebels in the south.
The arbitration is a crucial test for a 2005 agreement that ended 20 years of warfare between the government and the southern Sudanese insurgents. Both sides said they accepted the decision and southern officials called it a step toward permanent peace.
