China invests in South Sudan

From the BBC:

Officials in South Sudan say China has agreed to loan it $8bn (£4.9bn) for major development projects. A government spokesman said funds would be used to build roads, bridges and telecom networks, and to develop agriculture and hydro-electric power. However, there was no mention of plans to build a new pipeline to export oil from the newly independent state.

China has been a big supporter of Sudan, which has been trying to wrest the oil producing areas from the South, and has gotten away with a lot of various genocides because China stops the UN from interfering too much. This sounds like China is now hedging it's bets...

South Sudan in the news

Strategypage discusses the oil issue in Sudan's war against the now independent Southern Sudan

Arab vs Black African, Muslim vs Christian complications, but it's essntially over who gets the oil revenues, which are badly needed by South Sudan...

musical interlude of the day