Sudan’s president agrees to resume north-south talks on post-secession issue

November 21, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The chairman of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki, has handed Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir a set of proposals to break the negotiation deadlock on post-secession issues between Khartoum and Juba.

Mbeki told reporters after meeting Bashir that he submitted to Bashir the AUHIP’s vision for resuming negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan within a week.

The former South African president said that he will travel to Juba for talks with officials there on his meeting with Bashir.

A new round of negotiations scheduled for last Saturday in Ethiopia between the two countries was called off by Khartoum as the latter said it has “fundamental reservations” on Mbeki’s proposals to bridge the gap in positions.

The ownership of Abyei, demarcation of joint border, Sudan’s national debt and fees of oil transportation, are among the issues still negotiated between the two countries.

Last July, South Sudan became the world’s newest country after voting for independence in a January vote, taking with it three-quarters of the former united country’s roughly 500,000 barrels per day of oil production.

Sudan is particularly looking for a quick agreement on oil amid growing economic crisis as a result of losing access to the oilfields in South Sudan.

(ST)