International


Uganda: Uganda's Mineral Exports Dry Up Over 'Conflict' Certificate

Aug 8, 2014 | Nicholas Bariyo, The Wall Street Journal

KAMPALA, Uganda—Mineral exports have ground to a halt because a certification process aimed at stopping so-called "conflict minerals" from leaving the country hasn't been put…


DRC: Brutal, Conflict Minerals Smuggling General Escapes Justice

Aug 8, 2014 | Timo Mueller, Enough Project

In important developments last Thursday, on 31 July, Congolese authorities cleared all charges leveled against General Amisi Kumba, former commander of the Congolese land forces. Amisi was suspended on…


Iraq: The U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Iraq Are All About Oil

Aug 8, 2014 | John B. Judis, New Republic

Last night, President Barack Obama announced that he was authorizing American airtstrikes in Iraq. He described his intervention as a “humanitarian effort to help save…


Iraq/Kurdistan: Talisman Energy, Oryx Petroleum Suspend Operations in Iraq’s Kurdish Region Amid U.S. Air Strikes

Aug 8, 2014 | Yadullah Hussain, Financial Post

As U.S. planes bombed militant forces in northern Iraq, oil companies took emergency measures Friday to keep their staff out of harm’s way.

Talisman Energy Inc.…


South Sudan: Former South Sudan Ambassador Warns of Int’l ‘Hidden Hand’ Interested In Resources, War

Aug 8, 2014 | RIA Novosti

WASHINGTON, - While South Sudan owes its independence to international partners, it is wary of partners acting as a “hidden hand” interested only in its…


Myanmar: Burmese Among Victims of Massive Jade Scam in China

Aug 8, 2014 | Echo Hui, The Irrawaddy

HONG KONG — Hundreds of people, including Burmese jade dealers, have seen their fortunes vanish in a scam described as the biggest jade fraud case…


Myanmar: Myanmar Says Will Not Take Sides in Maritime Dispute

Aug 8, 2014 | May Wong, Channel News Asia

NAY PYI TAW: Myanmar's Information Minister Ye Htut has said Myanmar as ASEAN Chair will not take sides in any maritime dispute the bloc's members have…


DRC: Israeli Billionaire Finds 3 bln Barrels of Oil in Congo

Aug 7, 2014 | Peter Jones, Reuters

KINSHASA - An oil company owned by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler said on Thursday it had discovered around 3 billion barrels of oil in the…


South Sudan: Investment in Kenyan Port Offers South Sudan Alternative Oil Export Route

Aug 7, 2014 | Lloyd's List

CHINESE investment to the tune of $480m in the new Kenyan port of Lamu is a significant milestone in enabling South Sudan to export its…


China/Vietnam: Vietnam Walks a Thin Line Between US and China After Oil Rig Exit

Aug 7, 2014 | An Dien, Thanh Nien News

Hanoi has kept the threat of an international lawsuit and stronger relations with Japan and the US on the table even after Beijing removed its…


Iraq/Kurdistan: A Tanker’s Tale: Iraq’s Oil Divide - Caught Up in a Row Between Kurdistan and Baghdad

Aug 6, 2014 | The Independent

Sixty miles off the coast of Texas sits a crude oil tanker fully loaded with years of antagonism between the Kurdish region of Iraq and…


South China Sea/China: China’s SOEs Test The Waters In The South China Sea

Aug 6, 2014 | Dr. Meg Bowman, The Establishment Post

In early May, the Chinese HYSY-981 oil rig was moved into waters near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. The oil rig…


Sudan: Sudan MP Accuses Army of Land Grabbing in Sennar

Aug 6, 2014 | Radio Tamazuj

Yusuf Abu Rouf, a member of Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly has accused elements of the Sudanese Armed Forces of grabbing land belonging to the Rufa‫a…


Syria: ISIL Seizes Village in Syria's Oil-Rich Deir ez-Zor

Aug 6, 2014 | World Bulletin

Militants led by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – ISIL – captured Wednesday Suwayda village near Syria's eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, said…


Will Climate Change Lead to Conflict or Cooperation?

Aug 5, 2014 | IPS

Director of the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, Raleigh thinks that researchers and the media have put too simplistic a spin on the…


Iraq: Middle East Water Wars: Why Islamic State Wants Iraq's Dams

Aug 5, 2014 | Nigel Wilson, International Business Times

When ultra-violent militants sliced through the outskirts of Iraq's northern capital of Mosul in June, central government soldiers quickly melted away into the southern desert…


South Sudan: Document: South Sudan Govt Seeks to Silence Famine Warnings

Aug 5, 2014 | Radio Tamazuj

South Sudan’s government has issued an advisory to humanitarian organizations not to publish independent statements on the food and nutrition situation in the country without…


South China Sea/Vietnam: Vietnam Orders Fishing Boats to be Armed with Machine Guns

Aug 5, 2014 | Want China Times

The Vietnamese government has issued an order stipulating that boats under the jurisdiction of the country's fishery law enforcement command should be equipped with weapons,…


Philippines: Philippines Sentences 12 Chinese Fishermen to Jail

Aug 5, 2014 | Reuters

A Philippine court on Tuesday found 12 Chinese fishermen guilty of illegal fishing in Philippine waters, sending them to jail for six to 12 years,…


South China Sea: China Can Build What It Wants On S.China Sea Isles, Says Official

Aug 4, 2014 | Malaysian Digest

BEIJING: China can build whatever it wants on its islands in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese official said today, rejecting proposals ahead of…


Liberia: Busted

Aug 4, 2014 | AllAfrica

Reviewing the books, financial records and transactions of the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL), the country's supreme audit institution, the General Auditing Commission (GAC),…


Conflict Minerals: Gold Chains

Aug 4, 2014 | Mark Hay, The New Yorker

A little-known provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires companies using gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten to file reports that…


Iraq/Kuridstan: Iraq’s Oil: A Factor for Unity or Division?

Aug 4, 2014 | Rudaw

Washington DC - Oil has perhaps never posed a threat as big as it does now to the country’s territorial integrity.

Iraqi Kurds have threatened…


Iraq: Iraq's Islamist Insurgency Puts Its Southern Oil in the Spotlight

Aug 4, 2014 | Rania El Gamal, Reuters

DUBAI, August 4 (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni Islamist insurgency, crippling further its dream to match the oil power of Saudi Arabia, makes oilfields in the…


Climate Change: Will Climate Change Lead to Conflict or Cooperation?

Aug 4, 2014 | Independent European Daily Express

UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) - The headline of every article about the relationship between climate change and conflict should be complicated according to Clionadh Raleigh.

Director of…


South Sudan: Unity State Authorities Accuse Sudanese Soldiers of Looting Abandoned Oil Equipment

Aug 4, 2014 | Radio Tamazuj

At least four Sudanese army soldiers were killed and another two captured in an ambush laid by SPLA forces at oil fields in Pariang County…


Kenya: Musalia Mudavadi Calls for Extensive Investigation into Lamu Land Grabbing, Linking It to Insecurity

Aug 3, 2014 | Standard Digital

Amani coalition leader Musalia Mudavadi says land grabbing in Lamu could be behind the recent insecurity cases in Lamu county. Mudavadi is accusing the government…


Iraq/Kurdistan: ISIS Takes Over Iraq’s Biggest Dam

Aug 3, 2014 | Al Arabiya News

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took over Iraq's biggest dam unopposed by Kurdish fighters, who also lost three towns and…


Sudan: Sudan Receives $183m From Oil Companies in Transit Fees

Aug 3, 2014 | Sudan Tribune

(KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government announced on Sunday that the central bank had received $183 million from oil companies in transit fees per previous agreements.

On…


Iraq: Lukoil to Earn $2B from Iraq Oil Field

Aug 2, 2014 | Eduard Gismatullin, The Daily Star

LONDON: OAO Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, expects to earn at least $2 billion from exporting Iraqi crude in 2014, 17 years after first winning…