The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan, Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir, are expected to meet in the capital of Ethiopia on Sunday to sign a final agreement on all disputable issues that have remained since South Sudan gained independence last year.
Kiir has already arrived in Addis Ababa. His Sudanese counterpart is expected to fly to Ethiopia on Sunday as the UN Security Council has urged both countries to sign a deal on a demilitarized border zone.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council on Friday welcomed the resumption of talks between Sudan and South Sudan, calling on the countries to resolve all outstanding issues.
The UN chief congratulated the negotiating teams for their achievements and urged both presidents to “take responsibility for the resolution of their remaining differences, so that their summit concludes with a success that marks an end to the era of conflict and ushers in a new era of peace, cooperation and mutual development for the two countries and their people,” as rendered by Ban’s spokesperson.
Talks between al-Bashir and Kiir are held under the auspices of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel. They are aimed at enabling the two nations to fulfill their obligations under a roadmap designed to ease tensions, according to the UN.
South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July 2011, six years after the North and the South signed the peace deal ending decades of warfare between them. But armed clashes along their common border and remaining post-independence issues like security and oil have threatened the peace between the two countries.
The situation will also be considered at a high-level meeting due on September 27 in New York on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual general debate.
When South Sudan became independent, it gained two-thirds of the region's oil while Sudan retained the processing and export facilities. In January, the South accused the North of stealing its oil, and shut down oil production, according to the BBC.
