AFRICAN OIL

• But what has most made Sudan a violent place has been the discovery of oil.

• The Khartoum government has already lost control of the south, where most of its reserves lie.

• The China National Petroleum Corporation bought the rights to Block 6, the largest oil and gas concession field still controlled by Khartoum, which lies mostly in Darfur.

• Production costs are believed to be a bargain 22 cents (less than 12p) a barrel,

• and with Rolls-Royce Marine reportedly supplying tens of millions of dollars worth of pumping equipment this summer Block 6 production is alleged to have risen from 10,000 to 40,000 barrels a day.

• To the east lies Somalia, where the descent into war is portrayed as historical enmity ...

• The real reason is likely to be that the Ogaden region, which borders Somalia, sits on a not yet exploited gas field.

• The Malaysian oil giant Petronas has bought three concession blocks there. Addis Ababa fears a resurgent Somalia will seek to annex Ogaden.

• The likely coming war there is in part gas-powered.

Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled Ogadēn, Somali: Ogaadeen) is a part of the Somali Region in Ethiopia. Sometimes known as "Abyssinian Somaliland," some locals refer to it as Ogadenia (Somali: Ogaadeeniya). The inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim. The fact that some Somalis call the entire Somali region of Ethiopia "Ogadenia" is a cause of much friction in the region, because there are significant other clans in the Ogaden, such as the Sheikhal, Hawiye and Marehan.[citation needed] For this reason the titles "Somali Galbeed", which means "Western Somalia," is often preferred by supporters of the concept of Greater Somalia.