Khartoum and Juba agree to end rebel support

Sudan and South Sudan have agreed to cease mutual hostilities and halt any rebel support, including the pulling out of forces from their joint border.In a joint statement issued in Khartoum Thursday by their armies, the two countries confirmed they had also agreed on how to deal with their complaints.“The two parties renewed their commitment to halt all forms of support and harbouring to the armed movements and groups and exchange of complaints and responding on them,” a statement issued after a two-day meeting of the Joint Security Committee of Sudan and South Sudan said.“The Armed Forces and the People’s Army of South Sudan agreed on the pull out and re-deployment along the joint border in accordance with the map provided by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP),” the statement added.The two sides also agreed to jointly bear logistics of their field teams expected to start work in a week.The agreement, signed by the heads of the two country’s military intelligence, also included the possibility of creating sites to verify any claims of violations.Meetings will resume on September 17 in South Sudan capital Juba.Since July 2011, Sudan and South Sudan have accused each other of supporting rebels in their countries.In September last year, the two countries signed a cooperation agreement to resolve issues that were unresolved after the secession of South Sudan from Sudan.They included oil, border demarcation, external debts, the legal status of the citizens in the both countries and the question of Abyei and other disputed areas.