Khartoum, Juba return to negotiating table

Sudan and South Sudan resumed negotiations in Addis Ababa on Thursday to resolve outstanding differences between them a year after South Sudan seceded. Sudanese spokesperson Omar Dahab, who was nominated as Sudan’s ambassador to Moscow, said:  "The two delegations were in Addis Ababa for the resumption of talks." The chairman of the South Sudanese delegation, Pagan Amum, said he was "optimistic" about the talks, and hoping for a positive breakthrough. The United Nations Special Representative to South, Hilda Johnson, said she was confident negotiations would yield positive results. The UN has given Juba and Khartoum until the August 2 to settle their differences. Johnson said in Nairobi: "I have more confidence that things are moving in the right direction due to external factors such as pressure by the international community and economic pressures.” According to the Sudanese website El-Shorouk, the vice-president of South Sudan, Riek Machar, admitted South Sudan's difficulties during its first year of independence did not grant the people an opportunity to achieve their aspirations set forth before July 9, 2011, the day of South Sudan's secession. Tensions with the north remain after 50 years of bloody civil war, which saw over 2 million people die. He added that South Sudan had succeeded in “promoting independence" and "the establishment of the state”, and its most prominent challenges were “to achieve the aspirations of the people and secure their basic needs". Machar did not conceal his fears that the second year of independence would be "difficult" as well, saying: "We have put a budget austerity for the next year from July 2012 to June 2013." He expressed his regret for the "decline" in relations with Sudan, saying: "However, we are back to the negotiating table and hope to make progress,...the greatest differences are security, the demarcation of borders and the status of Abyei. I hope we avoid war because there is no point in fighting." In later developmenta, Ethiopian forces part of UN peacekeeping troops in Abyei (UNISFA) said security in the area was still fragile because of the instability of  Abyei's borders, and a lack of trust between local communities. The commander of the forces warned of the danger of "a lack of civil institutions in Abyei province". The head of the international mission, Ethiopian forces commander General Tadessa Tesfai, stated in a report submitted to the mutual Supervisory Committee of Abyei: "The coming dry season will pave friction between the people. The security situation will not be stable in the region if peace does not prevail and people return from Dinka Ngok and Misseriya to Abyei.” He added: "We expect everything in light of the dispute over Abyei. The UN Security Council ratified in June 2011 a deployment of UN peacekeeping forces composed of 4200 Ethiopian soldiers, in the disputed region between the two countries.” Tadessa said that the real challenge was for the displaced persons, refugees and nomads to return to their normal lives in Abyei, calling on the Supervisory Committee, which is made ??up of both parties to the conflict, to provide appropriate conditions for humanitarian assistance. Negotiations between Juba and Khartoum in the Ethiopian capital have been sponsored by the African Union. Talks were stalled due to a controversy over who had the right to vote in a referendum on which country Abyei would belong to. Khartoum maintains that the Arab-rooted Misseriya tribe had the right to vote, which Juba opposes claiming they are "expatriate residents" in the region.