Sudan says crisis with Juba not discussed during China visit

July 2, 2013, (KHARTOUM) – The National Congress Party (NCP) deputy chairman for party’s affairs Nafie Ali Nafie has said there was a match of views between the NCP and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on a range of issues.

Nafie, who was speaking to reporters at Khartoum airport upon his return from China, said that Sudan’s delegation to the second session of the strategic dialogue with China has met with the organizational secretary of the CCP and that the main round of talks was held with China’s vice president whom he said expressed happiness for establishing the council of the African parties at a recent meeting in Khartoum.

He said that the two parties discussed regional and international matters as well as bilateral relations, saying that they agreed to intensify the work in the third world and continue collaboration through civil society organizations.

The two sides agreed, he said on the need for reforming the existing world order to be more reflective of all nations of the world instead of powerful few in reference to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The NCP official further said that they presented a paper on international economy and control.

Nafie took the opportunity to reiterate accusation to South Sudan of trying to implement the part of the cooperation agreements which serves its interests, not the bilateral relations.

But he said that difficulties over relations with Juba were not discussed with the Chinese side.

This contradicted statements made last week by Sudan’s minister of agriculture, Abdel Halim Al-Mutafi, who was a member of the delegation and told media last week that the strategic dialogue between China and Sudan offered a good opportunity to discuss the recent problems between Sudan and South Sudan, mentioning the positive role which China could play to promote peace between the two countries.

In September of last year, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, border trade among others.

Last March, the two countries signed an implementation matrix for these cooperation agreements.

But last month,the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir ordered oil minister Awad al-Jaz to block the pipeline carrying South Sudan’s crude all the way to Red Sea coastal city of Port Sudan accusing the southern government of supporting rebel groups.

(ST)