UN urges security accord at Sudan summit

International bodies including the United Nations and the African
Union have urged Sudan and South Sudan to reach a comprehensive
agreement at a summit of its leaders being held in Ethiopia.

The two countries have taken a step towards a border security
agreement that will allow oil exports to resume, officials said on
Saturday, paving the way for their leaders to sign a deal to end
hostilities at the summit on Sunday.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and his southern counterpart Salva
Kiir are expected to hammer out the border agreement in Addis Ababa, to
meet the Sunday deadline set by the UN Security Council.

In-depth coverage of North-South strife over border

The neighbours reached an interim deal in August to revive southern oil exports that must transit the north to reach Red
Sea
ports. But Sudan has insisted on first reaching a security accord -
something which both parties have been unable to agree during two weeks
of talks.

Hours before the UN deadline expired, Sudan's delegation said it had
conditionally accepted a proposal by the AU, already agreed by South
Sudan, to create a demilitarised zone along the entire border. It had
previously objected to the zone running through a more than 22km long
strip of grazing land.

"There is a proposal to accept this sector of the map with some
special arrangements, military and administrative arrangements," Badr
el-Din Abdallah, spokesperson for the Sudanese delegation, told
reporters in Addis Ababa.

Atif Keir, spokesperson for South Sudan's delegation, said talks were ongoing.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said in a statement that
Bashir and Kiir must put aside differences over oil and borders at their
summit and create "a new era of peace, cooperation and mutual
development for the two countries and their people".

Friday's statement followed Thursday's call by the Security Council for an urgent agreement on the demilitarised border zone.

Meanwhile, outgoing AU Commission chief Jean Ping "looks forward to
the summit between President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and President Salva
Kiir of South Sudan," the AU said in a statement.

"He would like to encourage both presidents... to reach agreement on
the outstanding issues in the post-secession relations between their two
countries." The AU has been mediating in the talks between the two
countries.

'Build on progress'

Catherine Ashton , the European Union's top diplomat, welcomed news
of the Addis Ababa meeting and urged "both governments to conclude a
comprehensive agreement on all outstanding issues".

In a statement on Friday she said the two neighbours had already made significant progress, notably on oil and security issues.

"It is now for the two governments to build on the progress achieved," she said.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, has warned that Sudan's
refusal to accept an AU map demarcating the border with South Sudan
could lead to the resumption of "outright conflict".

South Sudan won independence from Sudan last year.

The UN also ordered the settlement of unresolved issues under AU mediation.

A previous round of talks in early August led to a breakthrough deal
on export fees: landlocked Juba will pay the fees to Khartoum to ship
its oil through northern pipelines. The details however still need to be
finalised.

At independence, South Sudan took with it two-thirds of the region's
oil, though processing and export facilities remained in the North.

In January, the South shut off oil production - damaging the
economies of both countries - after accusing Sudan of stealing its oil.

Officials have said that even once a final deal is reached on oil it
could then take from three to six months before exports could resume.

الموضوع الأصلي : UN urges security accord at Sudan summit

المصدر : ملتقى الجزائريين والعرب