A healthy climate for talks

Even while African mediators were sending invitations to Sudan and South Sudan to resume talks, next Thursday, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, both sides have expressed pessimism over continuing talks.

Sudan warned that patience has limits, and South Sudan matched that by saying it fails to see the logic of engaging in seemingly endless talks with the government of Sudan.

In fact, pending issues between the two are at a standstill with no breakthrough that can lead to speedy resolution, particularly in respect to the major points of contention such as Abyei, oil and border demarcation. Instead of a breakthrough in bilateral relations, the situation has become ever more complicated by the ongoing conflict in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan on Sudan's side, amid traded accusations of proxy war following eruption of a similar situation in border areas along Greater Upper Nile and Jonglei states inside South Sudan. Exchange of accusations and escalation threatens to shift the situation from cold to blistering war.

Nonetheless, efforts still continue in hope of reviving the faltering bilateral dialogue.

Invitations were sent and dates were set for meetings in Addis Ababa, but the two sides are not credibly optimistic on reaching tangible results, signifying that the gap between the two remains wide and difficult to bridge.

As mentioned above, the 7th of the current month was set as a date for resumption of dialogue in Addis Ababa, though it is not certain whether this meeting will be held at the set date or be put off. Even if held, it is doubtful whether it will witness new ideas for a breakthrough.

Under these conditions, the two sides and mediators are better advised to focus on a project that is viable for implementation, to set up a favorable atmosphere for discussing contested issues.

Negotiators at the coming round should focus on filtering the climate by surmounting inflamed confrontation; through a binding agreement to bring the parties to  halt fiery statements and their media war in order to open direct channels.

The second target the two sides should head for is discussing less intractable issues, with the idea of paving the way for more complex issues.

In the above respect, the two sides should start dialogue by discussing activation of the cooperation pact, because of its vital impact on the economy which is a key indicator of stability.