Sudan, S.Sudan leaders edge closer to border deal - diplomats
Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:39pm GMT
* But signing ceremony envisaged Wednesday is postponed
* Haggling over last-minute detail may be factor in delay
* Sudan, South Sudan face U.N. sanctions if no deal done
* Other long-standing issues kicked down the road (Updates with signing
ceremony postponed)
By Ulf Laessing
ADDIS ABABA, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan are close to sealing
a border security deal that could restart oil production but a signing
ceremony envisaged for Wednesday was postponed amid last-minute haggling
over details, sources close to the talks said.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and South Sudanese counterpart
Salva Kiir have met six times since Sunday to iron out a pact key to
reviving their economies after their armies came close to all-out war along
a disputed frontier in April.
"It is being finalised now," a diplomat familiar with the negotiations told
Reuters. The African Union has been striving to broker the agreement and the
U.N. Security Council has warned of sanctions against both states if no deal
is done.
Ethiopia's government, playing host to the talks, arranged for a news
conference in the afternoon with officials preparing a ballroom with name
plates for both leaders to sign several agreements to wrap up three weeks of
negotiations.
But when the first diplomats arrived at the hall to verify seating
arrangements, Ethiopian and delegation officials said the signing would be
postponed, probably until Thursday.
By nightfall the northeast African neighbours were still discussing the
nitty-gritty of a deal that would provide for a demilitarised buffer zone
along the border, according to diplomats and delegation sources.
The U.N. set a Sept. 22 deadline for a deal but that was informally extended
until the end of the Addis Ababa summit.
"There is a political will between...(the two leaders) to reach now an
agreement on all conflicts," Sudan's state radio said, quoting foreign
ministry spokesman el-Obeid Morawah.
He said talks were continuing over some issues but added: "It is clear that
both sides have edged closer (to a deal) and achieved great understanding in
the past two days."
RESOLUTION OF OTHER DISPUTES PUT OFF
Last month the sides reached an interim deal to restart oil exports from the
landlocked South through the north to Red Sea ports after Juba turned off
wells in a row over transit fees.
While the security deal will provide both nations with oil revenues needed
to stave off economic collapse, they have yet to sort out several other
conflicts left over from South Sudan's secession in July 2011.
They still need to agree on marking their 1,800-km (1,200-mile) long border
where there are at least five disputed strips. Their fate will probably have
to be decided in future talks or through lengthy international arbitration.
Bashir and Kiir have been also discussing a solution to the disputed border
region of Abyei but earlier plans for a referendum stumbled on discord over
who should be able to vote.
The two presidents are also expected to sign deals to boost cross-border
trade and grant citizens of both nations residency in the other's country,
ending uncertainty for South Sudanese living in Sudan.
The summit had originally been scheduled to take place in the South Sudanese
capital Juba in April but was cancelled after border fighting broke out and
South Sudan briefly seized an oilfield vital to Sudan's economy.
Experts say resuming oil flows will take several months as the two export
pipelines running through Sudan were filled with water to prevent gelling.
Some oil facilities were also damaged during the fighting.
South Sudan, where most people follow Christian and animist beliefs, seceded
from the mainly Muslim north in July 2011 under a 2005 peace agreement that
ended decades of civil war.
There was no sign of progress in indirect talks held in Addis Ababa between
Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North),
which is fighting the Sudanese army in two areas bordering South Sudan.
Diplomats say each country support the other's rebels. (Editing by Yara
Bayoumy and Mark Heinrich)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Wed Sep 26 2012 - 17:47:20 EDT
