South Sudan hopeful Bashir-Kiir summit to take place
April 6, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The government of South Sudan on Friday expressed hope that the presidential summit between Salva Kiir and his Sudanese counterpart Omer Hassan al-Bashir will soon take place despite recent setbacks in relations.
However, military confrontations involving the two countries’ armies resulted in the unilateral suspension of Bashir’s visit.
On Friday, South Sudan’s minister of information Barnaba Marial Benjamin, who doubles up as the official spokesman of the government, said that his government is keen on seeing the meeting take place.
“The invitation is holding,” Benjamin told Sudan Tribune on Friday. “We have not until today received an official notification from the Sudanese government that they have canceled the visit”, he said explaining further that “they cannot act on media reports”.
The government spokesperson said since the invitation was official that they can only accept an official communication.
“It was a letter from a head of state inviting another head of state. And if there is a reservation from the Sudanese president it has to be an official response”, Benjamin said.
He said the summit was one of the issues why the mediators led by chair of the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki, visited Juba.
“President Mbeki came for talks with President Salva Kiir over issues relating to the ongoing negotiations between the two countries, especially the issue of border security. He also came for a talk with the president. He wants to hear from him [Kiir] whether [the] president was still committed to the presidential summit or it has been changed”, he explained.
In Khartoum, Bashir met with Mbeki for two hours to discuss with him prospects of holding the summit with Kiir.
Mbeki said Bashir was unopposed to the summit as long as enough preparations are made beforehand. The AUHIP chair said the time and place of the meeting is to be determined by specialised committees.
Significant issues have remained unresolved since South Sudan’s independence in July of last year, including oil, citizenship, borders, debt and the status of contested areas such as Abyei.
Just before the clashes erupted last month, a new tone appeared to have been struck, with Bashir due to visit Juba to sign deals on citizenship and borders.
(ST)