Machar to visit Khartoum on Sunday 30 June

June 21, 2013 (KHARTOUM/JUBA) – South Sudan’s Vice President, Riek Machar, will travel to Khartoum on Sunday 30 June instead of this Sunday , officials in Juba and Khartoum have confirmed.

The South Sudanese cabinet decided in its weekly meeting of last Friday to dispatch Machar to Khartoum for talks with officials there on the row that erupted this month following Sudan’s decision to shut down its pipelines carrying oil from its southern neighbor.

Sudanese president Omer Al-Bashir said Juba does not implement the security agreement continues to support rebel groups. He added that all the protocols of the Cooperation Agreement should be enforced on the same time.

South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit denied that his country had been supporting the rebels and instead accused Sudan of supporting its rebels including David Yau Yau who fights the government in Jonglei state.

Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson Abu-Bakr Al-Sideeg Mohamed on Thursday told reporters that the two capitals after consultations agreed to delay the visit to 30 June because many of the Sudanese ministers concerned by the visit will not be in Khartoum this Sunday.

The Vice President’s press secretary James Gatdet Dak also has confirmed to Sudan Tribune that Machar’s mission to Khartoum is rescheduled for 30th June 2013.

On Thursday it was announced in Khartoum that presidential assistant Nafei Ali Nafie and oil minister Awad Al-Jaz, among other minister will leave Khartoum to Beijing for talks on economic cooperation between the two countries.

Machar was scheduled to visit Khartoum on Sunday and engage the Sudanese government on table on a number of issues including the alleged support to the rebels.

(ST)