South Sudan’s FM to visit Khartoum on Thursday
January 8, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign ministry has said that South Sudan’s minister of foreign affairs, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, will arrive in Khartoum on Thursday instead of Wednesday as previously announced.
Fighting broke out in Juba on December 15 between rival factions of the presidential guards amid ongoing tensions between president Salva Kiir and former vice-president Riek Machar, who is accused of orchestrating an alleged coup attempt to over throw the government.
The visit comes three days after Sudan’s president Omer Hassan al-Bashir visited Juba in the wake of ongoing political unrest in the new nation.
The foreign ministry spokesperson, Abu Bakr Al-Sideeg Mohamed Al-Amin, said the aim of the visit is to arrange for the meetings of the joint committee between the two countries, stressing that Marial would meet with president Bashir and ministers of interior, Abdel-Wahid Youssef, and foreign minister, Ali Karti.
He pointed out in a press conference held at the premises of the foreign ministry that implementation of cooperation agreements would top the agenda.
“There is a joint keenness to implement those agreements, including the demarcation of the border, and completion of the zero line which determines the baseline for the demilitarized security zone between the countries”, added the spokesperson.
(ST)