Finally…the long-awaited breakthrough!

Mbeki and defense ministers of Khartoum and Juba/ photo credit: Al-madina

After months of escalating tensions amid mounting pressure by the African Union and U.N. Security Council to bring the two to peacefully resolve their disputes, Sudan and South Sudan have finally achieved a “breakthrough” during their two-day round of talks in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, in the form of an agreement to march their troops out of a demilitarized border zone within a week; a step seen by many observers as possibly opening the way to  resumption of oil exports through the north.

Signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the deal was brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki and defense ministers of both Sudan and South Sudan, who promised to implement the agreement on the contested 14-mile-wide area later this month, while emphasizing commitment to fulfill the deal reached last Friday.

"We shall definitely…… be commited  to implementation (of the agreement) word-for-word and  step-by-step," Sudan Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Abdal-Rahim Mohamed Hussein said.

His South Sudanese counterpart, John Koang Nyoun, made an equally emphatic promise that his country's forces will pull out of  "14 miles and other areas."

According to the Sudan News Agency, the imminent withdrawals will be monitored by the commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement  as a measure for reinforcing border security needed for permanent resolution of outstanding issues between the two countries.

Friday’s agreement, according to a statement released by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson, concerns the establishment of a safe demilitarized border zone, the deployment of a joint border verification and monitoring mechanism and the activation of agreed security-related mechanisms, as of 10 March 2013.

Notwithstanding their initial praise, Mr. Ki-moon and many observers warned against over-optimism and stressed the need for immediate and unconditional implementation of all the other signed  agreements.

“With this agreement, there should be no further conditions in the way of immediate implementation of other agreements signed on 27 /September, including the agreement on oil,” Mr. Ban’s spokesman said in his statement on Friday, adding that the Secretary-General reiterates United Nations’ readiness to support the operations of the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism and assist the parties in implementation of related agreements.

We also praised both sides for demonstrating the statesmanship that made a breakthrough possible, and for having once again chosen peace over war urging at the same time the two parties to continue their efforts in order to now embark on the implementation of other agreements they have signed and to finalize the processes they have initiated.