Sudan, South Sudan to discuss implementation of cooperation agreements in August

July 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Foreign ministers from Sudan and South Sudan will meet next August in Khartoum to discuss issues related to the implementation of the cooperation agreements between the two countries.

Ibrahim Ghandour told reporters Friday that he was recently in Juba to represent president Omer al-Bashir at the celebrations to mark 4th anniversary of South Sudan’s independence. He further said he held a meeting with his counterpart Barnaba Marial Benjamin and agreed to discuss in early August the follow-up of the bilateral agreements signed by the two president.

The foreign ministers co-chair a mechanism agreed by the two countries to supervise the different committees tasked with the implementation of cooperation agreements of September 2012, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, border trade among others.

Before to travel to Juba, Ghandour called on South Sudan to implement the security agreement providing to operationalize the buffer zone, and the deployment of joint border patrols after determining the baseline for the demilitarized security zone (zero line).

He also renewed calls to Juba to stop providing support to the Sudanese rebel groups.

Ghandour who was speaking following a meeting with president Bashir, said the construction of normal relations requires a willingness from Juba, pointing out that there “are many outstanding issues to be discussed frankly and openly”.

last Wednesday, the Sudanese foreign ministry summoned the South Sudanese foreign ministry to protest against a series of articles hostile to the Khartoum published by a daily close to the South Sudanese presidency.

The two countries trade regular accusations of supporting rebel groups from both sides.

Speaking about Sudan’s relations with the international community, Ghandour said efforts are taking place to normalize relations with the United States, adding the two sides agreed that continued dialogue is the only means to reach common understandings.

He pointed out that Sudan’s relationship with the United Nations are normal, noting that the recent meeting in Addis Ababa between first vice-president Bakri Hassan Salih, and United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon “put points on the letters”.

Further, he said that Bashir’ discussed this week with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bilateral relations and how to take it forward to wider horizons. Also according to Ghandour, the two leaders discussed the joint coordination between the two countries in regional and international issues and Arab and Islamic issues.

(ST)