North, South Sudan to resume post-secession talks on 19 May
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May 17, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The ruling parties of north and south Sudan
are due on Thursday to embark on a fresh round of talks on
arrangements to bifurcate the country as time rapidly elapses ahead of
the south’s declaration of independence in less than two months.
Ethiopia’s capital Addis Abba will host high-level delegations from
north Sudan ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and its South Sudan
counterpart, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), to engage
on a three-day round of talks on economy-related issues.
The talks, which will be moderated by the African Union High-Level
Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), led by former South African
President Thabo Mbeki, will mainly aim to tackle issues of
oil-sharing, currency and external debts.
According to the SPLM’s leading member Luka Biong, as he spoke to the
privately owned daily Sudanese newspaper Al-Sahafah on Tuesday, the
talks would stretch over a period of three days.
He added that the delegates would also receive briefing on the
progress made since the last round.
The last round of talks, which took place in early March in Ethiopia,
reportedly reached an agreement that the south would help the north to
persuade international creditors to forgive the country’s hefty
external debt, which stood at about $35.7 billion as of December, 31
2009, according to official figures.
Biong revealed that the talks would focus on contentious issues,
including oil, currency and external debts.
He, however, later said that the talks would also touch on issues of
the hotly-contested region of Abyei, which saw violent confrontation
in the recent past, as well as border demarcation.
South Sudan, which produces nearly 70 percent of the country’s proven
daily oil output of 500,000 barrels, is due to declare independence in
July this year after the region’s citizens voted almost unanimously to
secede from the north in a referendum held in January this year.
Talks between the two sides to thrash out a host of contentious
issues, including Abyei, borders, assets, international agreements,
Nile water, oil revenues and citizenship, have proceeded haltingly
with little public revelation on the progress made.
Biong pointed out that this round represents “the last opportunity”
for the two sides in view of the time factor.
He further said the meeting would also give the AU the opportunity to
concentrate its efforts on the main issues and proceed to the stage of
drafting agreements.
But the SPLM official said he was expecting the current tension in the
country’s north-south border state of South Kordofan, where the NCP
and the SPLM bitterly contested gubernatorial and legislative
elections this month, as well as recent incidents of violence in Abyei
to cast negative shadows on the talks.
“Despite the current circumstances we want to move forward to a level
beyond our disagreements,” Biong said.
The NCP’s delegation to the talks is expected to be under a new
leadership after chief negotiator Salah Gosh was surprisingly stripped
of nearly all his position within the NCP amid reports of his
involvement in internal power struggle.
(ST)
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