The governments of South Sudan and Sudan agreed to resume direct commercial flights between the two capitals for the first time since April when high tensions forced the closure of the route.
Sudan stopped flights between Juba and Khartoum on April 8, leaving travellers with only the option of passing through a third country.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Monday, an official at the South Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the agreement has no connection to the Addis Ababa talks and the aviation deal will have no impact on the oil and border talks. He said that the agreement is governed by international civil aviation rules.
Ambassador Wol Mayar Ariech, the Director for Information and Media in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mentioned that they have made no agreement on land and river transport and described the agreement as a temporary one that will expire after six months starting from the date of signature.
The deal was initially announced by a Sudanese diplomat on Friday. The Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Rahmatallah Osman told reporters while visiting Juba that the agreement would contribute to normalizing relations between the two Sudans.
Although Undersecretary Osman did not specify when direct flights would resume, Ambassador Wol revealed that the flights could resume any time after the signing date last Friday.
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