Sudan and South Sudan set to resume talks

Sudan’s Defence Minister Abdel-Raheim Mohamed Hussien has agreed to resume talks with his South Sudanese counterpart in Addis Ababa on December 15. Hussien said that the meeting will be based on how to execute the cooperation agreements, while South Sudan’s official said that the talks will focus on implementing the security arrangements. Talks in Juba and Khartoum ended with neither side able to agree on a specific agenda for the dialogue on December 15. Leaders of the public army of South Sudan failed to attend the meetings held in Khartoum. Journalist El-Hady Ahmed el-Awad told Arabstoday that talks scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa on Saturday show that there is a gap in thinking between the two countries, a matter that requires the interference of the African mediators. He added that the mistrust between the two parties could impede any progress on the pending security issues, adding that Sudan’s delegation demanded that South Sudanese officials provide the documents that prove they have ended their relations with the Northern Public Movement which leads the war against the Sudanese government in the states of Blue Nile and Kordofan.