Sudan, South Sudan Sign Security Pact of Non-Aggression to Defuse Tensions
By Aaron Maasho | Reuters –
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Sudan and South Sudan on Friday signed a security agreement which aims to defuse tensions over oil payments which officials had warned could spark a war between the two countries.
Landlocked South Sudan took three-quarters of Sudan’s oil production — the lifeline of both economies — but needs to sell its crude through northern export facilities.
Both countries have failed to agree on a transit pipeline fee. Juba shut down last month its entire oil output after Khartoum started seizing southern oil as compensation for what it calls unpaid fees.
Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir warned last week that the tensions with South Sudan, which became independent in July, could lead to war between the two countries.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been trying to mediate an end to the tensions, said the deal was a “non-aggression pact” aimed at avoiding any armed conflict.
“This deal addresses those issues,” Mbeki told reporters when asked whether the agreement would defuse the threat of war.
The security agreement, brokered by the African Union in Addis Ababa, said the two sides agree to “respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in internal affairs, rejection of the use of force, equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence.”
Apart from oil, Sudan and South Sudan need to find a solution to the disputed border region of Abyei and to mark the joint border. Both countries often accuse each other of supporting rebels on the other’s territory.
(Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Writing by Ulf Laessing)
http://news.yahoo.com/sudan-sudan-sign-security-pact-defuse-tensions-223313494.html
Sudan, South Sudan Sign Treaty of Non-Aggression
VOA News
Sudan and South Sudan have signed a border security agreement that aims to defuse growing tensions over oil revenue payments.
The chief negotiator, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, said Sudan and South Sudan signed the non-aggression pact Friday during a meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
Details of the pact were not immediately available.
When South Sudan seceded in July of last year, it took most of the region’s oil fields, but the oil from the landlocked country must transit Sudan to reach ports.
Juba last month halted its production after Khartoum started seizing southern oil as compensation for what it calls unpaid transit fees.
Earlier Friday, natural resource monitoring group Global Witness expressed concern about escalating tensions between the two sides.
Sudan wants South Sudan to pay transit fees of more than $30 per barrel. The industry standard is closer to $1 per barrel.
Tensions have also remained high over disagreements about how to demarcate the border, and accusations that each side is arming the other’s rebel groups.
The dispute has hurt both economies. More than 90 percent of South Sudan’s revenues are derived from oil exports. Sudan is said to have lost more than $7 billion when the South gained independence.
On Thursday, South Sudan announced an agreement with Ethiopia allowing it to build an oil pipeline through Ethiopia to the port of Djibouti
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