President Omar Hassan Al Bashir made a one-day visit to the South Sudanese capital today, his first visit since independence day in July 2011. He was warmly welcomed by the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

The two had meetings together with supporting teams of ministers. Afterwards the Sudanese president went for prayers at the Kuwait Mosque in Juba Market before returning to Khartoum.

The visit affirmed the Sudanese leader’s commitment to implement the Cooperation Agreement signed in the Ethiopian capital last year. The deal suffered many setbacks in the months after its signing but in March a breakthrough in negotiations resulted in a revised timetable for implementation.

“In our discussion we have agreed to the following: full and unconditional implementation of the Cooperation Agreement,” said President Salva Kiir in remarks at the palace, including resumption of the flow of oil to international markets through Port Sudan.

He added that they wanted “Full resumption of border trade and free movement of people and goods across our borders, improvement of security along our borders and continuing of withdrawing of forces as required by the agreement.”

“The meetings, presided over by the two presidents, were cordial and fruitful,” said a joint communiqué. “Presidents expressed their satisfaction with the progress achieved so far in the implementation of the different provisions of the Matrix.”

At the same press conference on Friday afternoon the Sudanese president said, “We have committed ourselves to shift from good to better relations and to remove all the obstacles that face the two countries whether in the movement of the people in border or trade or in what is connected to the lives the citizens in the two countries.” 

“We two countries have many things that bind us together, shared interests, social relations because for many years we have been in one country,” said Bashir.

Outstanding issues remain – the joint communiqué was vague on Abyei, saying only that the presidents “decided to continue their efforts to resolve the Abyei issue in accordance with the implementation matrix.”

Salva Kiir said on the matter that “We agreed to implement the establishment of the Abyei Administration... in addition to encourage the return of citizens to Abyei and provision of essential services. We have also agreed to continue discussions on unresolved issues including formation of Abyei council.”

In spite of the unresolved Abyei issue, the visit nonetheless reflected the culmination of months of building political momentum toward ending border conflicts and resuming the oil production, decisions also borne out of economic necessity.

President Al Bashir has invited his South Sudanese counterpart to reciprocate the visit with a trip to Khartoum shortly.

Photos by SPLM.

Correction: This article initially stated that Bashir visited South Sudan last before the referendum in January 2011 when in fact he also visited six months later than that on independence day.