Sudan, South Sudan Begin Border Security Talks

A prominent member of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) says administration officials will begin talks with South Sudan in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Monday.

Clottey interview with Rabie Abdelati Obeid, a prominent member of Sudan’s ruling National Congress

Rabie Abdelati Obeid said top on the agenda will be discussions on finding ways to resolve security challenges between the two neighboring countries. The recent conflict between Khartoum and Juba nearly brought the two countries to the brink of a full-scale war.

Both Sudan and South Sudan say they have agreed to find solutions to the border security issues in Monday’s talks. Sudan’s security minister and the interior minister are scheduled to meet their counterparts from South Sudan for the negotiations.

“[The meeting] will settle the issues of security regarding the withdrawal of the southern government army from the north, and also the Sudan Armed Forces to be withdrawn to the north,” said Obeid.

Obeid said the areas of negotiations include a joint border verification and monitoring mechanism, as well as establishing a safe demilitarized zone between the two nations.

The African Union and the United Nations have demanded both Sudan and South Sudan resolve issues stipulated in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ahead of an August 2 deadline.

Obeid said the government in Khartoum is committed to implementing the AU/UN peace plan for the two nations.

“The roadmap of the United Nations Security Council is accepted by our government, and even the agenda prepared by the African panel led by former South African President [Thabo Mbeki] is also accepted by our government. And we will not hesitate to follow what has been directed by the African panel,” said Obeid.

“If we settle this security issue… this will pave the way and create a healthy atmosphere for [the] settlement of the remaining issues; whether these issues are oil, Abyei, or the demarcation of borders or any other issues still pending.”

A previous round of talks broke down last month after deadly border clashes. Analysts say the recent fighting was the worst since the south broke away from its northern neighbor last July after decades of conflict.

Obeid said Khartoum seeks to resolve challenges with South Sudan in order to have strong relations with the country.

 “This is actually our target. Our target is to establish good relations with the south and our target is to achieve peace and to create an atmosphere for all groups the live within the border between [the] south …and also to allow the movement of people between south and north that accompanied the relations between south and north,” continued Obeid.

 “It was also our target when we signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in the year 2005 and this was crucial to us when we accepted the secession of the south on 9^th July 2011. If it was not our target, we would not have signed the CPA [or] acknowledge the secession of the south.”

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution ordering both sides to cease fighting and return to peace talks following concerns of a return to war.

South Sudan pulled its last 700 police officers out from Abyei by last Tuesday's deadline.  The United Nations confirmed that Khartoum, too, had withdrawn troops from the disputed region.

Groups warn of South Sudan nightmare

Medecins Sans Frontieres says more than 30,000 new refugees in South Sudan need a place to go.

• NEW: U.S. says it has contributed $34 million to help refugees


• South Sudan will mark its first anniversary amid a worsening refugee crisis


• About 150,000 refugees from Sudan have crossed the border


• Medecins Sans Frontieres describes horrific living conditions in the camps

In a few weeks, South Sudan will turn a year old. It ought to have been a joyous occasion.

Instead, the world's newest nation is coping with a massive humanitarian crisis wrought by fighting between the armed forces of its nemesis to the north and an affiliate rebel movement.

The fighting is hardly new. For decades before South Sudan's independence in July, civil war raged over territory, oil and religion. Now, aid groups warn that another nightmare looms as millions of people are on the move, desperate to flee fighting and find a safer place to live.

The United Nations refugee agency said this week that the situation had sharply deteriorated in South Sudan's Upper Nile state, flooded with refugees crossing the border from Sudan.

About 150,000 refugees from Sudan are currently in South Sudan. That presents an enormous logistical challenge for aid agencies.

"This is a dramatic change in an already difficult humanitarian situation," said Antonio Guterres, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees.

"Not only are refugee numbers suddenly much higher, but the condition that many of these people are in is shockingly bad," he said. "Some have been eating tree leaves to survive along the way."

In a statement issued Wednesday, the United States expressed its concerns over the dire situation in South Sudan. Deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner urged international partners to join the efforts "to relieve suffering and assist those affected by the ongoing violence."

The United States government said it "has stepped up to help prevent further suffering" by providing more than $34 million to support the emergency response to new Sudanese refugees in the region The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has appealed for $145 million to help resolve and prevent a humanitarian crisis in the region.

Sudan denies it uses cluster bombs

Struggling for survival in South Sudan

Enough Project, which works to stop genocide and crimes against humanity and has been monitoring the situation along the Sudanese border, blamed Khartoum for targeting civilians.

"The refugees are pouring into South Sudan because the government of neighboring Sudan is using starvation as a weapon in its South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions," said John Prendergast, co-founder of Enough Project.

In temporary refugee camps, people are living in wretched conditions, say international charities working in the area,

Jean-Marc Jacobs, head of the Medecins Sans Frontieres mission in South Sudan, described the transit camp of Rim as a remote and inhospitable place where people are seeking shelter under the shade of trees.

"People have walked for several days with no food and no water," he said.

The agency has been running a substantial emergency medical operation for the refugees in Upper Nile State.

This week, Medecins Sans Frontieres called on the United Nations to identify a suitable place for more than 30,000 refugees who have crossed the border from Sudan's Blue Nile State into South Sudan's Upper Nile State over the past two weeks.

Many are hungry and face other dire problems like not having access to clean water and proper sanitation.

But it's not just refugees who are suffering.

"The ones who are strong enough to make the long trek to the border do so; the ones left behind face a bleak future," Prendergast said.

Another monitoring group, Amnesty International, visited eight refugee camps between March and April and found people in some instances waiting 10 hours to receive a single container of water or three weeks for food rations.

Amnesty International also documented human rights abuses.

People "faced risks such as forced recruitment into armed groups and sexual violence, in addition to food and water shortages," the group said. Women and girls spoke of their fear of rape and sexual violence.

In refugee camps in Upper Nile State, Amnesty received reports of "boys and young men being forcefully recruited into the armed opposition group, the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North."

"We can run away from bombs but not from hunger," one refugee told Amnesty International.

Amnesty urged the United Nations to accelerate efforts to feed people and to make sure protective measures are in place for the vulnerable.

Despite the bleak reality in South Sudan, many of its people are eager to return home.

This week, the International Organization for Migration relocated more than 6,000 South Sudanese from Khartoum to Juba. The operation between the two capitals took more than 11 days and about 40 flights.

The majority of the returnees were previously stranded in Kosti, 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of Khartoum.

It's not even 1 year old, and South Sudan is facing myriad problems, Prendergast said,

"The cutoff of oil production, state corruption and a state of near-war with Sudan have created massive hardships among the civilian population in South Sudan," he said.

He said it was imperative for the United Nations Security Council to make good on its threat to impose sanctions -- on Sudan and on South Sudan -- if they continue to impede progress toward a lasting peace deal and an end to the fighting.

The challenges are many. Still, South Sudanese are optimistic about their return.

"I left South Sudan in 1951, when I was just a boy," Amol Jok Ajak Deng told the International Organization for Migration.

"I return as an old man, but I am strong, and I am willing to work."

UN Urges Full Sudan, South Sudan Troop Withdrawal from Abeye

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday welcomed the withdrawal of the military of Sudan and South Sudan from the disputed Abyei area.  But the council said full withdrawal must include other forces reportedly stationed by Sudan in that oil-rich region.

The 15-member Security Council held a private meeting with U.N. officials and then issued a statement welcoming the withdrawal of Sudanese and South Sudanese forces from the Abyei area along the countries’ border.

The statement was read by Security Council’s president, Ambassador Agshin Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan.

“Members of council emphasized that full withdrawal must include police forces, including oil police.  Members of the council welcomed the resumption of talks between Sudan and South Sudan on 29 May 2012 in Addis Ababa under the auspices of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel.  Members of the council encouraged both parties to keep momentum toward meeting all outstanding obligations under resolution 2046,” Mehdiyev said.

Resolution 2046, adopted by the Security Council on May 2, condemns the cross-border violence between Sudan and South Sudan, and calls on both countries to end their fighting, withdraw their forces and begin talks.  Those negotiations began this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with initial reports of slow progress.

United States Ambassador Susan Rice said U.N. officials had presented a mixed report to the Security Council, indicating some progress.  "Certainly," she told reporters, "we are in a better place now, a month after the adoption of resolution 2046 than we were just prior to its adoption when circumstances were indeed extremely dire."

At the same time, Rice expressed concern about what she called the grave humanitarian situation in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile provinces.  The condition of refugees crossing the border, she said, has been alarming.

“Those are the healthy ones, comparatively, that are able to make it out.  And what we are seeing in terms of the most dire acute malnutrition among children, the numbers are skyrocketing.  And this is indeed an exceedingly worrisome situation.  There has been no progress in terms of the government of Sudan allowing open humanitarian access, including into rebel areas,” Rice said.

Rice warned that the situation along the border between Sudan and South Sudan is precarious, and she called on the two countries to activate the Joint Border Verification Monitoring Mission.

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