July 3 (Reuters) - Sudan's south will become an independent country on July 9, but fighting along the ill-defined border has raised tension ahead of the split. North and south have yet to resolve issues such as how to manage the oil industry and divide debt.
Here are some key facts about the two parts of Sudan:
SOUTH SUDAN:
OFFICIAL NAME: The Republic of South Sudan (After July 9, according to the south's draft constitution)
CAPITAL: Juba
HEAD OF STATE: Salva Kiir
POPULATION: 8.26 million
Note: The 2009 census showed a total Sudanese population of 39.15 million, with 30.89 million living in the north and 8.26 million in the south. The south contested the census and said it has undercounted the southerners. Hundreds of thousands of expatriate southerners have moved back home since the census.
AREA: 640,000 sq km. (About one third of the landmass of the united Sudan)
RELIGION: Mostly Christian and traditional beliefs
ECONOMY: Oil accounted for about 98 percent of the south's total revenue in 2010. About three-quarters of Sudan's roughly 500,000 barrels per day of oil output comes from the south, but the pipelines all pass through the north, which has the country's only refineries and sea port.
Oil is the lifeblood of both northern and southern economies. The current arrangement, which splits revenues from southern oil about 50-50, expires when the south declares independence.
In late 2010, the Sudan Ministry of Finance and Economy revealed that the October oil income for north and south Sudan was a combined total of $357 million. Before the secession, roughly 60 percent of that total combined income went to north Sudan.
-- Oil revenue - Analysts have estimated that the government of the south may be able to add $1 billion to its annual budget of around $2 billion by obtaining more revenues from oil after independence.
-- Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir threatened on June 21 to shut down oil pipelines if the south refused to pay transit fees or continue sharing oil revenues after it secedes.
DEVELOPMENT:
-- Despite being endowed with oil, up to 90 percent of the southern population lives below the poverty line, surviving on just a half a dollar a day.
-- Southern Sudan has the highest infant-mortality rates and the lowest education indicators in the world. One child in 10 dies before its first birthday and fewer than 1 percent of girls complete primary education.
-- In May the European Union allocated 200 million euros for south Sudan to support the government's forthcoming 2011-13 Development Plan. Since 2005 the EU has committed development assistance of over 665 million euros to Sudan with more than 45 percent dedicated to the south.
-- In 2009 Sudan received $2.4 billion in official development assistance (ODA) from donors.
SUDAN (NORTH)
CAPITAL: Khartoum
HEAD OF STATE: Omar Hassan al-Bashir
POPULATION: 31 million (without the south)
AREA: 1.86 million sq km. (about two thirds of the landmass of the united Sudan)
RELIGION: Mostly Muslim
ECONOMY: Oil revenues accounted for more than 50 percent of domestic revenue and more than 90 percent of exports -- both figures for the whole, united country -- in 2009.
* Oil, cotton, sesame, livestock and hides
* GDP $68.44 billion (2010)
* GDP per capita (PPP) 2,300 (2010)
* Growth 5.1 percent
* Labour force by sector
* Agriculture: 80 percent
* Industry: 7 percent
* Inflation 11.6 percent
* Note: figures apply to Sudan as a whole.
THE BORDER:
-- North and south Sudan have agreed to form a demilitarised buffer zone at their joint border to defuse tensions ahead of secession, the African Union (AU) said on June 29.
-- International peacekeepers aided by the AU and United Nations as well as observers from both sides will monitor the buffer zone of 10 kilometres on each side of the border.
-- Both sides have yet to agree on a range of issues such as who will control the contested region of Abyei. Defusing tensions at the ill-defined 2,000 km long border is another burning issue.
Sources: Reuters/southsudaninfo.net/FAO/CIA/http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/628/www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/www.globalwitness.org (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Andrew Heavens; )
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