President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan said that he and his counterpart are considering a joint force to protect the oilfields in South Sudan. He also clarified that he will not support former vice president Riek Machar but instead called on the rival parties to settle their dispute at the negotiation table.
The unexpected visit of Bashir to Juba on Monday was announced only the night before. Khartoum allied for many years with the former vice-president Machar to fight the SPLA in which Kiir played a leading role.
Machar’s homeland and support is mainly in the two oil-rich states of Unity and Upper Nile. These states’ oil production provide revenues to Sudan from oil transit fees because the crude is shipped through pipelines in Sudan’s territory north to Port Sudan.
In Khartoum on Monday Sudan’s Minister of Foreign affairs Ali Ahmed Karti said South Sudan requested talks on deploying a joint force to secure at-risk oil fields. “Sudan and South Sudan are in consultations about the deployment of a mixed force to protect the oilfields in the South,” he told Al Jazeera at the airport in Khartoum.
Talks in Addis Ababa
The first direct talks took place on Monday after the two delegations agreed on the rules for mediation and the agenda of Tuesday discussions. The direct meeting was delayed while heavy fighting continued in Jonglei as the SPLA tried to recapture the capital Bor.
Photo: Omar al Bashir and Salva Kiir in Juba, 6 January 2014.