South Sudanese president to visit Khartoum next week
October 25, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – South Sudanese President Salva Kiir will visit Khartoum for talks with his Sudanese counterpart on bilateral relations next Tuesday, announced Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour on Wednesday.
President Kiir will discuss with President Omer al-Bashir several issues of common interest, most notably the IGAD peace and security forum in South Sudan, Ghandour further told reporters at Khartoum airport after his return with the president from a tour in the Gulf countries.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement signed by the two countries in September 2012, as the two countries have failed to finalize border demarcation and reached an agreement on the border disputed areas or settle their difference on Abyei referendum.
South Sudan, which separated from Sudan after a referendum on self-determination in 2011, plunged into civil war in December 2013.Thousands of civilians were killed and over millions have been displaced.
The warring parties signed a peace deal in August 2015 brokered by the IGAD countries including Sudan but failed to implement. In June, the IGAD Summit of Heads of State and Government decided to hold a high-level forum for revitalization to discuss concrete measures to restore a permanent ceasefire and achieve full peace in southern Sudan.
Last July, South Sudan’s Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth announced that President Kiir would visit Sudan in response to an invitation from the Sudanese President al-Bashir.
(ST)