ADDIS ABABA: Rival neighbours Sudan and South Sudan leaders are edging close to signing a deal on long-running disputes as their summit meeting runs into a fourth long day, Ethiopian officials said yesterday.
“The final result of the negotiation between the two Sudans is expected to be made public by a press conference,” Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
However, diplomats suggested the former civil war foes were close to reaching a partial agreement, not a comprehensive deal as had been hoped.
The press conference had initially been scheduled for late morning but it had still not happened by early evening.
President Omar Hassan Al Bashir of Sudan and his Southern counterpart Salva Kiir began talks Sunday - in what was originally billed as a one-day meeting - with sticking points reported to be contested border regions and security issues. The two leaders went into a face-to-face meeting yesterday. It was not clear whether that meeting was still continuing in early evening.
Efforts had been made to strike a comprehensive deal tackling multiple issues including oil, security, a demilitarised border buffer zone and contested regions, but it is understood any deal signed yesterday would be partial.
“There has been progress, not on all areas, but if a deal can be reached, it is a good step forward,” a Western diplomat said.
Amid international pressure to reach a deal - after missing a UN Security Council deadline to settle by Saturday - teams from each side have spent days locked in efforts to narrow positions, as mediators shuttled between them.
The protracted talks under AU mediation began in the Ethiopian capital several months before South Sudan split in July 2011 from what was Africa’s biggest nation, following an independence vote after decades of war.
Key issues include the ownership of contested regions along their frontier, especially the flashpoint Abyei region, and the setting up of a demilitarised border zone after fierce clashes.
AFP
