Kenya says Bashir and Kiir agree to hold summit in Ethiopia

January 18, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Kenyan foreign minister Moses Wetangula revealed that Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir expressed readiness to meet with South Sudan leader Salva Kiir on the sidelines of the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa scheduled for late January.

The purpose of the meeting would be to discuss the status of outstanding issues between the two countries such as oil, borders, Abyei, citizenship as well as conflicts in the border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

The last time the two men met was in Khartoum last October.

Yesterday Wetangula delivered a letter from his boss president Mwai Kibaki on Khartoum-Juba talks regarding oil and the upcoming AU Summit beside other regional issues.

Since South Sudan seceded from the north last July, tensions escalated between the two neighbors over allegations of support to rebels and military air raids conducted by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) inside the newly created nation.

This was also coupled by lack of progress in the post-secession negotiations particularly on the contentious issue of oil.

Juba has recently accuses Khartoum of “stealing” part of the oil that passes through the pipelines in the north. The latter says that it can no longer wait indefinitely and will therefore seize part of the oil as a form of payment until a final agreement on transit fees is reached.

(ST)