Allafrica.com: Sudan: Kiir, Bashir Discuss Ways to Protect South Sudan's Oilfields

From: Berhane Habtemariam <Berhane.Habtemariam_at_gmx.de_at_dehai.org>
Date: Sun, 6 Apr 2014 23:07:05 +0200

Sudan: Kiir, Bashir Discuss Ways to Protect South Sudan's Oilfields


6 April 2014

Khartoum - South Sudan's president Salva Kiir concluded a one-day visit to
Khartoum on Saturday during which he discussed with his Sudanese counterpart
Omer Hassan Al-Bashir bilateral relations and security issues.

The two presidents afterwards announced that they agreed to develop joint
mechanisms to reactivate the implementation of the cooperation agreements
signed between the two countries in 2012.

An official source told Sudan Tribune that Kiir asked for Khartoum's support
through tightening control along the borderline between the two countries,
adding that both sides also discussed ways for protecting oilfields against
potential attacks by South Sudan rebels.

The same source also said Juba asked Khartoum to back its stances within the
East African regional block IGAD with regard to participation of the seven
detained SPLM leaders in the negotiations between the government and the
rebels.

South Sudan's deadly conflict erupted last December after clashes broke out
between rival factions of the presidential guards in Juba when the president
ordered the disarmament of Nuer soldiers in the guards division, triggering
the subsequent violence.

Kiir, however, said he was responding to an alleged coup plot by his former
long-time deputy Riek Machar, but the latter accused Kiir of instigating the
violence in order to get rid of his political opponents within the ruling
party.

Machar has maintained that he was forced into "armed resistance", accusing
president Kiir of "dictatorial tendencies" and calling on him to step down.

Over 10,000 people have reportedly been killed and nearly a million
displaced since violence erupted, according to UN estimates.

While Machar escaped from Juba with former Unity state governor Taban Deng
Gai, when the fighting began, 11 senior SPLM members were arrested and
accused of being behind an alleged coup attempt in the country.

After international pressure and a ceasefire deal signed on January 23rd,
Juba released seven of the detainees but kept four, including the SPLM's
former secretary general Pagan Amum in custody.

Bashir said in a joint press conference with Kiir that they discussed ways
for developing bilateral ties through implementation of cooperation
agreements, adding they also discussed security situation in the two
countries and agreed to coordinate efforts to achieve security and
stability.

He pointed that the visit comes within the framework of the continued
consultations between the leadership in both countries in order to
strengthen relations, expressing hope that ties between the two countries
would be fully normalised and borders opened for the benefit of the two
peoples.

Kiir for his part expressed satisfaction at the visit to Khartoum, noting
that the visit was supposed to take place after Bashir's recent visit to
Juba but was delayed due to security developments in South Sudan.

He said they agreed to set up mechanisms to reactivate implementation of the
joint cooperation agreement signed between the countries in Addis Ababa.

In September 2012, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series of cooperation
agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking,
border trade among others.

In March 2013, the two countries signed an implementation matrix for these
cooperation agreements.

Kiir thanked Khartoum for receiving around 30,000 southern refugees who fled
the ongoing conflict in South Sudan.

Meanwhile, Sudan's ambassador to Juba, Mutrif Sideeg, denied that South
Sudan demanded participation of Sudanese troops in the African forces in
South Sudan instead of Ugandan ones.

He stressed in press statements in Khartoum on Saturday that talks of the
two presidents did not discuss formation of joint force to protect oilfields
in South Sudan.

"They didn't discuss anything in this regard and there is no agreement of
this kind", he added.

Sideeg further announced that South Sudan's defence minister will visit
Khartoum next week to continue discussions he started last month with
security officials in Khartoum besides determining the baseline for the
demilitarised security zone (zero line) and the 10 border crossings.

 
Received on Sun Apr 06 2014 - 17:07:07 EDT

Dehai Admin
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2013
All rights reserved