With the Sudanese referendum this week, Nnimmo Bassey looks back at Nigeria's civil war in 1967, what is at stake for South Sudan and the role of oil in the region.

Beijing has invested billions in the oil-rich country and may now have to step up to ensure stability prevails. As the world anxiously watches the southern Sudanese vote on whether to secede, one country has more to lose than most if civil war returns to Sudan. With an estimated 24,000 of its citizens living there and billions of dollars worth of investments in the country, China is the key foreign player in Khartoum.

Persistent calls for clear and transparent information on Sudan’s oil revenues have yet to yield satisfactory information, says a new report published by Global Witness. With a referendum on independence for southern Sudan just days away, oil sector transparency is now more important than ever to preserving the fragile peace between north and south.

Persistent calls for clear and transparent information on Sudan’s oil revenues have yet to yield satisfactory information, says a new report published by Global Witness. With a referendum on independence for southern Sudan just days away, oil sector transparency is now more important than ever to preserving the fragile peace between north and south.

As the clock counts down toward voting day, despite earlier prognostications of a delay, there are more and more signs that things will go smoothly. The stakes are so high that neither side seems to want to be sucked into a war again, or at least to start one.

China is shifting ties of the Referendum, cozying up to the nation's separatist southern region. "Chinese officials in Juba and Beijing have made clear that they are willing to recognize an independent Southern Sudan, and that they will follow the lead of the African Union".

The Sudanese president Al-Bashir offered to let the South take the entire revenue from the southern oil wealth in return for a unity vote in the referendum.

Oil inflamed Sudan's civil war for decades but could now help seal the peace as the south becomes independent and needs the north to refine its crude. there's no other option but to continue -- in a form still open to negotiations -- the sharing of oil wealth even in a likely post-secession scenario.

This paper contributes to discussions about the role of Sudan‘s $35 billion in external debt obligations – both for a unified Sudan and a possible Southern secession. It examines Sudan‘s existing debt dynamics and the potential eligibility for traditional debt relief and multilateral debt relief initiatives. It also provides an indicative roadmap for clearing Sudan‘s loan arrears of $30 billion and potentially securing comprehensive debt relief in the future.

GoNU and GoSS should establish a fully-fledged audit system to cater for the oil industry’s socio-economic, environmental, and security impact after the south’s referendum on independence, a two-day oil conference resolved. It was also recommended that oil companies compensate communities for past and current injustices.