The chair of the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki said he will visit Khartoum to follow-up talks with president Salva Kiir.

Thabo Mbeki hopes to reschedule a presidential summit between the Sudanese President and his South Sudanese counterpart.

Talks between al-Bashir and Kiir were supposed to be held on the third of this month, but collapsed as Juba said it shot down a Sudanese warplane earlier this week in Unity state, South Sudan.

The two countries also failed to reach an agreement on security when Khartoum accused Juba of continuing to support rebels in the country.

Marial Benjamin, South Sudanese minister of information stressed that the ball is now in the court of President al-Bashir: 'we are ready to receive him'.