Sudan, South Sudan to resume negotiations

KHARTOUM - Sudan and South Sudan will resume their negotiations on outstanding issues in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Tuesday under the mediation of African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan, official Sudan Radio reported Monday.

"Sudan and South Sudan will resume the negotiation round on outstanding issues in Addis Ababa on Tuesday," the radio quoted Rahamtalla Mohamed Osman, Sudan's Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, as saying.

"Sudan's delegation is ready for the negotiations," he said, noting that the security file constitutes the only barrier before the current round.

He further reiterated Sudan's keenness to reach fair solutions to the outstanding issues with South Sudan, adding that in case a satisfactory solution for the security file was reached, it would pave the way for resolving the other files.

On August 3, head of the AU mediator, Thabo Mbeki, announced that Sudan and South Sudan reached a deal during their previous round of talks on oil-sharing, noting that the south's oil pumping would be resumed and exported via Sudan's oil infrastructures.

Although Mbeki did not disclose the details of the deal, Sudanese media reports then indicated that the two sides had agreed on $25 and 80 cents per barrel as fees for transporting and processing the South's oil to pass through Sudan' s pipeline.

Sudan and South Sudan have been negotiating in Addis Ababa over many outstanding issues including oil-sharing, border demarcation and disputed border areas including the Abyei area.