Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated yesterday that Sudan has successfully concluded meetings of the bi-lateral Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSM) held between 17-19 March 2013 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The meeting with South Sudan was chaired by Gen. Abdul Salaam Abu-Bakara member of the African Union High Level Implementation Committee.

Both Sudan and South Sudan were reported to have completed all aspects of the agreements, particularly with regard to security arrangements which will open a door for a greater cooperation between the countries in political, security and economic spheres.

Sudan and South Sudan signed a security agreement in September 2012 to demilitarise the contested border area, creating a ‘buffer zone’.  However, neither side implemented the agreement until this month when they finally drafted an implementation matrix.

Photo: Addis Ababa (Hansueli Krapf/ Wikipedia)