South Sudan forms high level committee for dialogue with Sudan
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June 14, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan has formed a high level political
committee to dialogue with the neighbouring Sudan to defuse the
current oil row which has threatened to invalidate the cooperation
agreements signed by the two nations in September last year.
JPEG - 30 kb
FILE - Southern Sudan vice president Riek Machar (L) listens to
Sudan’s First Vice President Ali Osman Taha during a meeting in
Khartoum on July 10, 2010 (AFP PHOTO/ASHRAF SHAZLY Getty Images)
On Friday South Sudan’s cabinet chaired by the president Salva Kiir
Mayardit deliberated extensively for five hours on the tensions with
Khartoum and took a decision to engage a high level dialogue with
Sudan to defuse the tensions.
The official spokesperson of the government, Barnaba Marial Benjamin,
told the press that the country’s vice president, Riek Machar, was
mandated by a cabinet resolution to lead a high level delegation to
Khartoum and engage his Sudanese counter-part, Ali Osman Taha, to
salvage the agreements.
Machar, he said, will travel to Khartoum with a number of key
ministers and discuss bilateral ties and the implementation of the
whole cooperation agreements, using the mechanisms provided in the
agreement.
Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir on Saturday 8 June directed
his oil minister to block the oil flow, accusing Juba of harbouring
and arming a coalition of rebel groups fighting the government. Juba
denied the accusation and counter-accused Khartoum of supporting its
rebels including David Yau Yau who currently battles the government in
Jonglei state.
Sudanese officials said that oil would not keep flowing without the
implementation of security package in the agreement and demanded to
discuss ways to prevent cross border attacks or receiving support
through the South Sudan.
If Sudan is ready, he said, the vice-president and his accompanying
delegation will travel to Khartoum "any time" soon and hold a direct
negotiation with the Sudanese senior officials. But he did not mention
when the committee would travel to Khartoum.
"We are ready to engage in open discussions that look at how we can
have a win-win solution in a new context, not in the context of take
it all but the in context that the outcome would be acceptable to all
the parties and for the benefits of the two nations", he stressed.
Under the mechanisms of the cooperation agreements a high level
committee was to be formed and co-chaired by the vice-president of
each country with membership of ministers concerned.
Machar’s High Level Committee (HLC) under the cooperation agreements
is mandated to "oversee and coordinate the implementation of the
Cooperation Agreement; oversee and coordinate the monitoring and
evaluation of the Cooperation Agreement; and direct and oversee the
work of the Joint Implementation Committee (JIC)".
JIC shall be co-chaired by the foreign ministers in the two countries
and shall serve as the secretariat and joint rapporteurs for the HLC.
The HLC shall report regularly to the heads of state [Al-Bashir and
Kiir] and may refer any matter to them for decision or guidance.
The African Union urged the two parties to resume direct talks and
said that the chairman of the mediation Thabo Mbeki had sent "urgent
proposals" to Khartoum and Juba to settle this new crisis.
Also, the international community called on the two countries to
commit themselves to the implementation of the signed agreements,
pointing that all their differences can be resolved through it.
Following Bashir’s decision to close oil pipeline, Sudan said there is
a delay of 60 days before to shut it down. Khartoum also threatened to
suspend the whole cooperation agreement with South Sudan.
The former Sudan split into two countries in July 2011 and carried
over some of the outstanding issues including their borders,
citizenship, trade, Abyei, security and oil, among others.
The split came as a result of a referendum vote on the right to
self-determination in accordance with the 2005’s comprehensive peace
agreement (CPA) that ended 21 years of war between the two ex-foes.
In order to resolve the outstanding issues, a cooperation agreement
was signed on 27 September 2012 . This treaty incorporates nine
agreements including oil transit fees to allow the South Sudan’s oil
to transport through the oil pipeline to the international markets via
Port Sudan. An implementation matrix was also signed in March 2013.
(ST)
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