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February 1, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A senior Russian diplomat visiting Khartoum has offered his country’s support to enable Sudan and South Sudan to overcome their disputes.
- Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov (RIA Novosti. Eduard Pesov)
Russia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov has led a delegation to the Sudanese capital and held a series of meetings with top Sudanese officials.
Following a meeting with Sudan’s President Omer Al-Bashir on Wednesday, Bogdanov told reporters that Moscow intends to support Sudan in order to find durable solutions to all issues of contention with South Sudan.
Sudan and South Sudan have been unable to overcome an array of disputes arising from failure to fully implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended more than two decades of civil wars between the two sides and paved the way for the south’s secession in July last year.
The most notable of these disputes are to the status of the hotly contested region of Abyei and sharing of oil revenues.
The Russian diplomat, however, pointed out that his country’s offer is limited to making contacts between the two sides without going into too many details or interfering with the ongoing efforts of the African Union High Level Panel, the main facilitator of talks between the two countries.
AUHIP-moderated talks between Sudan and South Sudan on the oil dispute have been unsuccessful so far as the crisis escalated in recent weeks after the south shut down oil production in response to Khartoum’s unilateral decision to confiscate its oil.
Bogdanov said he had received briefing from Al-Bashir on the situation between Sudan and South Sudan as well as the outcome of Sudan’s participation at the 18th AU summit held in Addis Ababa.
Al-Bashir held a meeting with Kiir on the margins of the AU summit in a bid to resolve the dispute but the talks collapsed after Kiir refused to sign a proposed agreement on oil.
Separately, the Russian official held meetings with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti as well as the presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie.
The Russian delegation is visiting Khartoum to participate in the meetings of the joint ministerial committee between the two countries which was formed during Karti’s visit to Moscow in December 2010.
The committee aims to advance bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, commerce and trade.
Bogdanov said his delegation comprises representatives of more than 10 Russian companies specialized in different fields.
He explained that the committee’s meeting, which is scheduled to kick off today, will aim to link Russian entrepreneurs with their Sudanese counterparts.
(ST)
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