Khartoum names envoy to Juba as Sudan awaits visit of southern delegation
January 8, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has nominated a veteran government official to become its envoy in South Sudan, according to local press reports, as Khartoum prepares to receive a southern diplomatic delegation.
Mutrif has in recent years served in a number of senior positions, he was a state minister for foreign affairs, a state minister for humanitarian affairs and a state minister for international cooperation.
He was also a member of Sudan’s negotiating team during Naivasha talks which culminated in the signing in 2005 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the north-south war and paved the way for South Sudan’s independence in July this year.
Citing “informed sources”, the paper added that Mutrif’s nomination was accepted by President Al-Bashir, and that Khartoum was now waiting for Juba’s approval.
Meanwhile, a high-level diplomatic delegation from South Sudan is expected to arrive in Khartoum and hold talks with senior officials, including Foreign Minister Ali Karti.
According to the official spokesman of Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, al-Obaid Ahmed Marwih, the purpose of the five-day visit is to hash out issues of South Sudanese assets and situation of southerners in Sudan.
The southern delegation will be led by Elias Nyamlel Wako, Deputy Minister for International Cooperation, and John Akec, the head of the ministry’s department of bilateral relations’, Marwih added.
Sudan’s diplomatic relations with its new southern neighbor has been strained since the latter gained independence. Khartoum last year complained to the UN Security Council against Juba’s alleged support to Sudanese rebels in the border states of South Kordofan and Blue Niles.
The ex-war foes have so far failed to resolve their disputes over a raft of issues, including the fees that the landlocked South Sudan should pay to Khartoum for the use of its pipelines to export southern oil, and the status of the contested region of Abyei.
In a related development, the chairman of the external relations committee at the Sudanese parliament, Mohamed Hassan Al-Amin, on Sunday revealed that his committee was conducting efforts to reach a satisfactory formula of cooperation with South Sudan.
The Sudanese parliamentarian, who is also a member of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), said that the recently-separated countries remain intertwined no matter how bad the relations are.
Al-Amin told reporters in Khartoum that the parliament’s external relations committee would organize a seminar to discuss ties with South Sudan and seek to resolve the disputes between the two countries through coordination with the ministry of foreign affairs since parliament is not an executive authority as he put it.
He further underscored the need for both countries to resolve the dispute over oil, saying that this particular issue should be thrashed out through talks.
Sudan has recently admitted confiscating a portion of southern oil because Juba did not pay any fees for transporting its oil through the north since the south seceded.
But this action was deemed as “stealing in broad day light” by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir. The South has also threatened to suspend production in reaction.
The two sides are due this month to resume talks on the oil issue at the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where AU mediators have been trying to bring the two neighbors to reach an agreement.
(ST)