South Sudanese official advocates dialogue with Khartoum
April 3, 2012 (JUBA) – A member of the South Sudanese National Assembly on Tuesday reiterated the nation’s interdependence with neighbouring Sudan; underscoring that working together is in the collective interest of both.
The relations between the two countries are at an all time low since South Sudan gained its independence in July 2011. Military clashes in the border regions which began in March led to a suspension of talks on issues such as border demarcation and oil transit fees, scheduled to be held in Juba.
South Sudan on Monday expressed concern about the competence of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, which is mediating the current round of talks.
“The intention of the plan was purely to consolidate peace instead of confrontation so that the two parties could work together as two mutually and viable states living side by side in peace and cooperate in all fields in pursuit of mutual interest for the people of the two countries,” said Nyipuoc.
“We want to maintain that policy of peaceful co-existence,” added Nyipuoc. He explained that thousands of Sudanese people live peacefully in South Sudan.
He assigned blame to factions within Khartoum’s ruling National Congress Party which he described as “opposed to peaceful dialogue even during negotiation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement”; the document which ended more than two decades of bloody civil war between Juba and Khartoum.
He denied reports by the Sudanese government that South Sudan’s army crossed the international border and launched a collaborative attack with rebels in Talodi, South Kordofan state.
Nyipuoc reiterated Juba’s denial that it supports the rebels which are fighting Khartoum in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states. He described them as “internal differences” which Khartoum needs to address before it escalates into large-scale conflict. He stressed that the people either side of the 2011 international border are divided only in terms of their administrations.
He said the position of the government of South Sudan has remained compatible with international calls for Khartoum to return to the negotiating table, since the June 2011 Addis Ababa Accord, soliciting support for a peaceful settlement to the conflict by agreeing upon a cessation of hostilities and to permit delivery of the humanitarian aid to the conflict-affected areas.
He noted that the South Sudanese Transitional Constitution clearly states that the maintenance of international peace and stability as bilateral relations which requires the maintenance of peaceful co-existence and peaceful disposition towards other countries, is a key foreign poilcy.
(ST)