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    June 17, 2011

Sudanese Parties Race Clock to Settle Disputes Before South's Independence

   Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa
   A picture released by Thabo Mbeki's spokesman shows former President of
   Burundi Pierre Buyoya and AU mediator for the Sudan crisis Thabo Mbeki
   with Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) commander, Abdel Aziz
   al-Hilu (C), at his military headquarters
   Photo: AFP/Mbeki spokesman
   A picture released by Thabo Mbeki's spokesman shows former President of
   Burundi Pierre Buyoya and AU mediator for the Sudan crisis Thabo Mbeki
   with Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) commander, Abdel Aziz
   al-Hilu (C), at his military headquarters in South Kordofan State,
   Sudan, June 16, 2011

   Sudanese parties have opened final negotiations in Addis Ababa aimed at
   resolving several difficult and potentially divisive issues that need
   to be settled by the South's July 9 independence day. The negotiators
   were advised they must keep working until a deal is reached.
   With just over three weeks until the birth of a new nation, north and
   south Sudan face a daunting array of potentially explosive questions.
   Among them, how to divide revenue from oil to be produced in the
   newly-independent south, and sensitive issues about who will be a
   citizen of which country.
   Preliminary talks have been described as contentious, with the two
   sides far apart.
   As they sat down together Friday for a final push for agreement, the
   chief mediator, former South African president Thabo Mbeki told the
   assembled negotiating teams that failure would be unacceptable. Flanked
   by chief negotiators Idriss Abdul-Gadir of the north and Pagan Amoum of
   the south, Mbeki said ground rules for the talks are that no one leaves
   until an agreement is ready for signature.
   MBEKI: "There are still quite a few matters that need to be decided
   upon and our co-leaders here to my extreme left and my extreme right
   have said to me that I must say to the meeting, We shall sit here until
   we agree on all outstanding matters and that both delegations are
   indeed committed to do that. Am I right?"
   PAGAN: "Yes, you are right"
   MBEKI: "Am I right?"
   ABDUL-GADIR: "You are right"
   MBEKI: "You see that. They have confirmed that I am right."
   The talks on citizenship and financial issues are among final details
   to be wrapped up under terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement
   that ended decades of civil war in Sudan. Mbeki stressed to negotiators
   that their efforts are critical in determining whether the two
   neighbors begin their bilateral relationship at peace or in a state of
   hostility.
   "We continue on the basis we have used throughout, which is of two
   viable states and continuing the relationship between states that is of
   benefit to the peoples of both states," he said. "The concept has been
   challenged somewhat but none of us has departed because we're all
   conscious that in the end we have two states who are neighbors, and
   they can't avoid being neighbors, and its better that they be good
   neighbors than bad neighbors."
   Mbeki suggested the knotty question of citizenship might be resolved by
   establishing a soft border, allowing residents of the region, many of
   whom are northern-allied nomads, to move freely.
   "We've discussed about a soft-border and therefore permitting for
   continuing interaction of Sudanese people across that border so
   separation does not create a wall between the two of them which
   obviously would have negative impact on lives of people on both sides
   of that border," he said.
   Negotiators speaking to VOA Friday said the two sides are at a standoff
   on the critical issue of sharing oil revenues. The south was said to be
   insisting on a straight commercial relationship, with the north
   threatening to close the oil pipeline to Port Sudan unless they are
   given a share of the proceeds.
   The financial and citizenship talks are being held parallel to separate
   talks on two other tracks, one on a cease-fire to end more than a week
   of deadly clashes in South Kordofan state, and another on the future of
   Abyei. Mediators say both tracks appear to be progressing
   satisfactorily.