South Sudan Members of the Eden Petroleum team provided pro bono advisory services to the Government of South Sudan in exile in Australia for 1 year leading up to the South Sudan’s Independence Referendum in January 2011.
Australia’s Upper and Lower House were lobbied in an effort to provide Australian support to the Government of South Sudan. The support of Janelle Saffin, member of the House of Representatives for Page, agreed to provide her full support for the independence referendum and the recognition of South Sudan, if they voted for secession from Sudan.
Input and support from Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) were enlisted. Then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hon. Kevin Rudd, was persuaded to commit $9million, and a complement of Australian federal police and troops to assist with security at South Sudan’s polling stations.
Hon. Kevin Rudd met with then Minister of Presidential Affairs, Dr Luka Biong Deng, and agreed to assist South Sudan. Eden Petroleum negotiated and prepared all legal documents and opinions for Westpac Bank, to permit south Sudan to open a sovereign bank account prior to the Independence Referendum and significantly before official recognition of South Sudan by the United Nations in July of 2011. The Private Members Motion drafted by one of the Eden team, with the kind assistance of DFAT and legal academic, Dr Tina Hunter, is below:
