June 29, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – South Sudan leader Salva Kiir Mayardit and North Sudan’s vice-president Ali Osman Mohamed Taha held a meeting on Wednesday and agreed on the importance of maintaining progressive relations between the two sides as the South prepares to declare independence on 9 July.

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) greets semi-autonomous South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir (L) and Sudan’s Vice President Ali Osman Taha (R), before a high level meeting on Sudan, at United Nations headquarters, in New York, September 24, 2010 (REUTERS PICTURES)

Meanwhile, Sudan Tribune has learned the northern government and the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) have agreed to start implementing the provisions of their agreement on new security and political arrangements in South Kordofan state as of this week.

Kiir met with Taha on the sidelines of the 17th summit of the AU summit in Equatorial Guinea. According to Sudan’s official news agency (SUNA), Kiir said following his meeting with Taha that the South would maintain its diplomatic, social and political ties with the North.

Kiir was also quoted as downplaying the recent violence in North-South border areas as “mere acts of insecurity committed by some elements.”

South Sudan’s leader, who still occupies the position of Sudan’s first vice-president, was invited to participate in the AU summit in the capacity of an observer.

Relations between North and South Sudan have been strained recently over last month’s seizure by the Northern army of the hotly-contested region of Abyei and this month’s violent clashes in South Kordofan State which borders South Sudan.

The Sudanese government and the SPLM-northern sector on Wednesday signed a framework agreement creating new grounds for political and security arrangements in South Kordofan after deadly clashes between the Northern army and SPLM’s armed members in the state killed hundreds and displaced more than 70,000 people, according to UN estimates.

The agreement, which was brokered by African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, provides for the integration of SPLM fighters into the Northern army and extends the Popular Consultation process that have yet to be completed beyond July 9.

A senior SPLM official, who opted for anonymity, told Sudan Tribune that the government of the National Congress Party and SPLM agreed to start implementing the provisions of the framework agreement on South Kordofan as of Sunday, 3 July.

The SPLM official disclosed that the NCP and SPLM delegation held a series of intensive meetings yesterday in the presence of Thabo Mbeki to discuss the agreement to cease hostilities in South Kordofan.

He further disclosed that the meetings discussed re-opening roads in the state and facilitating the delivery of aid to the affected population.

Sudan Tribune also learned that the two sides had agreed to cease hostilities and to refrain from negative political rhetoric against each other as soon as possible.

(ST)