Word: oiling
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Even though Sudan's civil war officially ended four years ago, tensions continued to fester between the country's north and south over a region rich in oil and symbolism. But on Wednesday, an international panel decided to shrink the borders of the disputed Abyei region, a move that may strengthen Sudan's fragile peace...
...Permanent Court of Arbitration's remapping of the Abyei region reduces its size by more than a third. The new borders award several major oil fields to the north Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir but also make it more likely that the region will become part of south Sudan when the people of Abyei vote on their future in 2011. (See pictures of Darfur descending into chaos...
...when the north and south signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the war, they could not agree on the fate of Abyei, a region that sits along the hazy border and is home to several oil fields and an oil pipeline. In a bid to settle the dispute, negotiators drew up clear boundaries for Abyei, put it under joint administration and planned a 2011 referendum for its people to decide their region's fate. (Read "Sudan's Leader Shuts Down Aid Groups...
...kind of pragmatism is exactly what is needed from the Tripartite Forum talks, whose program includes discussions of visas, financial regulations, education and, yes, the environment. "There's an absolute void there, so when you have a catastrophe like the New Flame [a cargo ship that collided with an oil tanker and sank off the Gibraltar coast in 2007], any initiative by anyone only produces more conflict," he says. "In that sense, any agreement that comes out of the talks will be better than what there is now, which is nothing." (See pictures of Spain's Madcap Tomato Festival...
...ancient Silk Road. Its capital, Urumqi, is far closer to Kabul than it is to Beijing. Xinjiang's population of 20 million is one of China's most diverse, with Uighurs, Kazakhs, Mongols, Tajiks and ever growing numbers of Han Chinese. Beneath the desert sands, reserves of oil, minerals and natural gas abound...