S Sudan in Khartoum talks over pending issues

South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar (left) shakes hands with President Salva Kiir after the formation of the new cabinet of the Transitional Government at the Cabinet Affairs Ministry in Juba on April 29, 2016. Khartoum is hoping that Machar’s return in the unity government will lead to renewed exports through the pipeline to Port Sudan on its Red Sea coast and resumed transit fee payments. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • South Sudan’s oil production virtually ground to a halt during the civil war that erupted after the dismissal of Vice President Riek Machar in December 2013.
  • It is also hoping that improved relations will help resolve persistent rebellions on both sides of the border that have sparked a prolonged war of words between the two governments.

KHARTOUM

South Sudan resumed talks with Sudan on Sunday on a raft of thorny issues, including borders and oil revenues, still outstanding from its 2011 secession.

The south’s foreign affairs, defence, interior and oil ministers travelled to Khartoum for the talks, the first since a unity government was formed in Juba last month in a bid to end its devastating civil war.

“There are some difficulties in our relations,” South Sudanese Foreign Minister Deng Alor acknowledged at a joint press conference with his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour.

“I delivered a message from our President Salva Kiir to President (Omar) al-Bashir calling for fast resolution of bilateral issues.”

The south’s independence in 2011 left a raft of issues unresolved, including the status of the Khartoum-occupied border district of Abyei, which had been supposed to hold a plebiscite on its future, and the payments Juba should make for the use of an oil export pipeline through Sudan.

Mr Ghandour said that he would hold further talks with Alor to resolve the issues.

“Sudan’s top priority is to build relations with South Sudan given our historical links,” he said.

South Sudan’s oil production virtually ground to a halt during the civil war that erupted after the dismissal of Vice President Riek Machar in December 2013.

Khartoum is hoping that Machar’s return as vice president in a unity government last month will lead to renewed exports through the pipeline to Port Sudan on its Red Sea coast and resumed transit fee payments.

PUNITIVE MEASURES
It is also hoping that improved relations will help resolve persistent rebellions on both sides of the border that have sparked a prolonged war of words between the two governments.

Meanwhile, South Sudan has expressed ‘Great Disappointment’ after the UN renewed sanctions.

The United Nations Security Council voted last Tuesday to renew sanctions on six military commanders said to be obstructing an agreement to end the country’s two-and-a-half-year-long civil war.

South Sudan representative Joseph Moum Majak Ngor Malok expressed “great disappointment” with the unanimous action by the 15-nation body.

He said the resolution failed to respect South Sudan’s sovereign right to “govern and manage its own affairs without interference from the Security Council.”

Tuesday’s vote extends for one year punitive measures adopted last July against three commanders of government forces and three commanders of rebel troops.

The Security Council on Tuesday welcomed the signing of an August 2015 peace agreement between the warring parties and the subsequent formation of a transitional coalition government.

But the council also condemned “the continued and flagrant violations of the ceasefire provisions of the agreement.”