Top-level officials sent from Juba to Khartoum this week have sought to restore elements of the Cooperation Agreement between the two countries, pointing to the need to help each other amid conflict in both states.  

South Sudan and Sudan signed in September 2012 in Addis Ababa an agreement on petroleum sector matters, border security, border crossings, nationality and other issues.

Although the oil arrangements have continued uninterrupted – with regard to the fields still producing – a number of other elements of the deal have stalled since November or December last year, such as the Joint Border and Verification Monitoring Mission (JBVMM).

Kuol Manyang Juuk, South Sudan’s defence minister, left for Khartoum on Tuesday. The defence minister said he carried a message from President Salva Kiir to ‘his brother’ President Omar al-Bashir.

The defence official speaking at a joint press conference with his counterpart the Sudanese Defence Minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein said his government is satisfied with Sudan’s stance toward recent events in South Sudan and stressed his country’s desire for peace and cooperation with Sudan.

Hussein, for his part, said they agreed on reactivation of the Cooperation Agreement especially the security agreement, which he said forms the basis for the other agreements. Both officials looked ahead to more follow-up meetings.

Another delegation of the South Sudan Council of States visited Khartoum over the same three-day period. The speaker of the South Sudanese upper house on Thursday speaking to press in Juba upon his return called for the opening of borders between the two countries to facilitate free movement of people and goods.

The Council Speaker Joseph Bol Chan said he had met his counterpart Sudan Council of States Speaker Umballi Abudalla El Agab in order to improve relations between the two countries. He said they agreed to work towards full implementation of the Cooperation Agreement.

Photo: South Sudan's Defence Minister General Kuol Manyang Juuk (L) presents Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with a letter, in Khartoum on 19 March 2014 (AFP/Ebrahim Hamid)