Bashir agrees to Friday summit with S. Sudan

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has agreed to attend a summit on Friday with his South Sudanese counterpart to push stalled economic and security deals, official media said.

Thursday, January 03, 2013
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has agreed to attend a summit on Friday with his South Sudanese counterpart to push stalled economic and security deals, official media said.The meeting, which the SUNA news agency said is slated for the Ethiopian capital, would be the first since Bashir and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir late September signed the deals which they hailed as ending the conflict but which have not been put into effect.The two countries fought along their undemarcated border in March and April.In a report late Tuesday, SUNA said Bashir "has accepted the invitation" by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to meet with Bashir in Addis Ababa.Sudan's presidential press secretary, Emad Sayed Ahmed, told SUNA that the meeting would "discuss means of speeding up the implementation of the issues agreed upon at the summit between the two presidents" three months ago.Khartoum accuses South Sudan of supporting rebels inside its territory, which has been a major obstacle to implementing the agreements.The South, in turn, says Sudan backs rebels on southern soil.Tensions have persisted along the border, most recently last week when Sudan's military said "armed groups" from South Sudan clashed with Arab tribesmen in Samaha, one of five areas disputed by Khartoum and the South's government in Juba.