The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan signed deals on Thursday to secure their shared border and boost trade, which will restart crucial oil exports, but they failed to resolve other conflicts remaining after the South seceded last year. The deal, reached after more than three weeks of negotiations, will throw both ailing economies a lifeline and prevent, for now, a resumption of the fighting that broke out along the border in April and nearly led to all-out war.
Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and South Sudan President Salva Kiir signed co-operation and trade deals to applause at a packed room in a five-star hotel in Addis Ababa, the seat of the African Union (AU). "We are convinced that what has happened, which culminated in signing of the agreements, constitutes a giant step forward for both countries," AU mediator Thabo Mbeki said.
South Sudan seceded in July 2011 under an agreement that ended decades of civil war, but the neighbours still deeply distrust each other and have a history of failing to implement past agreements. The defence ministers of both countries signed another deal to set up a demilitarised buffer zone along the joint border. The deal will allow landlocked South Sudan to resume oil exports though Sudan, which will provide both ailing economies with dollars. The South in January had shut down its entire output of 350,000 barrels a day after the countries argued about transit fees.
Bashir said it was a "historic moment for building peace" between the former civil war foes. Faced with the threat of UN sanctions and economic collapse, Bashir and Kiir agreed to set up the demilitarised zone. But the two sides failed to settle the fate of at least five disputed, oil-producing regions along the 1,800 km (1,200 mile) border, despite pressure from the African Union, the United States and other Western powers. The two sides also failed to agree on the border region of Abyei, which has symbolic significance to both and is rich in grazing lands.
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