S.Sudan says deal made with Sudan warring sides over key oilfield

Employees working for the authorities load a body bag into the back of a lorry as bodies are dug up from an emergency burial site inside a school, to be buried in public cemeteries, in the capital Khartoum on December 8, 2025.[AFP]

South Sudan said Thursday it had come to an agreement with warring parties over a key oilfield in Sudan's southern Kordofan, near the country's border, after the site was seized by paramilitaries.

Kordofan, where the Heglig oil field lies, has become the epicentre of the Sudanese civil war after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the entire Darfur region in the west of the country in October.

The RSF, which has been locked in conflict with the regular army since April 2023, said on Monday it had taken control of the strategic area "after the Sudanese army fled". South Sudan later said the troops had surrendered to them.

The paramilitaries hailed the oil field's capture "a turning point for the liberation of the entire country, given its economic importance".

Information minister Ateny Wek Ateny told a press conference on Thursday that "a tripartite agreement has been reached" between South Sudan's army, the Sudanese army, and the RSF.

It grants the South Sudanese "the primary security responsibility over the Heglig Oil field, also known as Panthou, amid rising tension".

The capture of Heglig, described by a former Sudanese minister as a "disaster", was also a blow to South Sudan, which held onto most of Sudan's fossil fuel deposits after seceding from it in 2011.

The site houses the main processing facility for South Sudanese oil destined for export.

Despite its oil, the world's youngest country has suffered instability and high poverty rates for years.

South Sudan gained independence in 2011 but soon after suffered five years of devastating civil war, leaving more than two million displaced, and there are fears of renewed conflict this year as a peace agreement unravels.

Meanwhile, Sudan's ongoing conflict has also seen South Sudan host hundreds of thousands of refugees from the war.