New talks call for a new approach

Sudan & S.Sudan negotiators/ aljazeera.net file

The first round of bilateral talks between the governments of Sudan and South Sudan, being held in Khartoum under new conditions related to border security, was described by both sides as successful; with South Sudan expressing some reservation on the need for a smoother approach to fully implement the agreement reached. 

According to South Sudan's chief negotiator Pagan Amum, the talks aimed at pushing forward the cooperation agreement, the two sides recently signed. 

An optimistic-sounding Pagan went further to announce that his country may will resume oil exports through Sudan within two or three weeks. 

The Citizen newspaper quoted the chief negotiator, the day before yesterday, as saying that a smooth and synchronized approach is needed to fully implement the agreement and foster cooperation and joint action for the interest of both countries, pointing out that both sides agreed to withhold support for armed rebel groups on either side of the border.

We hope that, this time, the talks will be drastically different from previous futile efforts which failed to abide by agreements which proved little more than ink on paper.

Return to the talks is not an end in itself but rather a means for arriving at a binding agreement and guaranteeing that both parties are committed to implementation; otherwise no benefit will be derived from senselessly repeating the old approach.

South Sudan is in need of political stability to be able to build a viable state which remained in a state of war for well nigh half a century during which time its infrastructures and administrative capacities saw virtually no development. It needs stability to be able to rebuild and peace to sustain that process. The main props for that level of stability are good neighborly relations and cooperation with neighboring countries. This includes a new approach for dealing with Sudan for the interest of both nations. 

Sudan, for its part, sacrificed national unity and the integrity of its territory by accepting the secession of South Sudan in exchange for peace and being able to extricate itself from the quagmire of war. All that will be for naught if the two sides fail to build good-neighborly relations. 

The two sides should therefore work together to resolve their problems instead of exploiting them in a proxy war that disserves both sides, as they place neighborly relations at the top of their agenda.