Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa and chief mediator of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) has urged Sudan and South Sudan to accelerate creation of a demilitarized buffer zone and determine a zero line between the two counties.
The AU mediator said in a press statement after a meeting with President Omar Al Bashir on Monday that he conferred with President Bashir on the implementation of the 2012 Joint Cooperation Agreements including the security issues.
He pointed out that the African Union is calling on the Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSM) to resume meetings in order to agree on the zero line and create the demilitarized buffer zone along the common borders between the two Sudans.
For its part, the Sudanese government reiterated its commitment to implement resolutions adopted in previous meetings of the JPSM, saying it is committed to implement the Joint Cooperation Agreements signed in 2012 in Addis Ababa.
Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid, an aide of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, noted his government previously agreed on the identification of the zero line according to a map presented by the African Union after making some amendments.
However, the Sudanese official said the South Sudanese government rejected that map after it had initially accepted it. Ibrahim accused South Sudan of obstructing the identification of the zero line and the creation of the demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries.