Sudan hopeful for S.Sudan deal despite fresh fighting
Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:50pm GMT
(Adds Sudan comments on Bashir, Kiir summit)
By Ulf Laessing
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Sudan hopes to reach a broad agreement with
South Sudan to end all hostilities at a presidents' summit in Ethiopia at
the weekend, officials said on Thursday, despite new fighting between the
army and rebels in Sudan's borderlands.
Diplomats said there has been progress after two weeks of African
Union-brokered talks between the neighbouring countries, but no breakthrough
yet on setting up a demilitarized buffer zone at the unmarked border, much
of which is disputed.
Western and African diplomats hope to conclude negotiations at the weekend
with a summit on Sunday between Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and
his southern counterpart, Salva Kiir.
"I believe Bashir and Salva Kiir will be here to achieve something for the
people of their countries ... We hope they will succeed and sign an
agreement," Abdelrahman Sir al-Khatim, a senior member of Sudan's
delegation, told reporters on the sidelines of the talks.
Last month, Sudan and South Sudan reached an interim deal to restart
southern oil exports through the north but Sudan insists on a border
security deal first, which both parties are trying to hammer out at this
latest round of negotiations.
Unless the two countries reach a comprehensive peace deal by a Sept. 22
deadline, they risk incurring sanctions from the United Nations Security
Council.
The African neighbours came close to war in April in the worst outbreak of
violence since South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011 under a peace
deal that ended decades of civil war.
Sudan would only sign a deal that covers all issues left over from South
Sudan's secession such as oil transit fees and border security, said Khatim,
who is Sudan's ambassador in Ethiopia.
South Sudan says Kiir's attendance will be only confirmed if there is a
breakthrough at the security talks, but diplomats say the president will
find it hard not to show up after he was officially invited by Ethiopia.
NEW FIGHTING
Fighting continued in the border area on Wednesday. Sudan's army said it had
clashed with rebels in Blue Nile state and seized the area of Sarkam close
to the border to South Sudan.
Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting rebels of the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) which has been fighting the army in
Blue Nile and nearby South Kordofan state for more than a year. Both states
border South Sudan.
"After the operation the armed forces started securing the area and cleansed
it on a large scale," army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid told the state-linked
Sudanese Media Center (SMC) late on Wednesday.
SPLM-North spokesman Arnu Lodi could not confirm the fighting. South Sudan
officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Leaders of SPLM-North are also negotiating with Sudan in non-direct talks in
Ethiopia over a political solution in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, but
diplomats see no real progress.
Kamal Obeid, head of Sudan's delegation dealing with SPLM-North, said talks
were ongoing, adding Sudan still insisted that South Sudan cut any ties with
the SPLM-North.
Juba denies any links with the group, which is in alliance with rebel
operations from Sudan's western Darfur region which want to topple Bashir.
The United Nations, African Union and Arab League brokered a deal between
Sudan and SPLM-North last month to allow much-needed aid into rebel-held
areas in both states. Fighting has displaced more than 600,000 people in
both states.
But the agreement has not been implemented yet as Sudan and the U.N. have
been unable to agree on how to deliver aid. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing and
Khalid Abdelaziz, Editing by Sophie Hares)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Thu Sep 20 2012 - 18:18:54 EDT
