South Sudan Parties Strike Deal on Security Arrangement Chapter

Local Editor

South Sudanese belligerents reached an agreement on the security arrangements as they settled the last four outstanding issues paving the way for discussions on pending issues in the governance chapter.

Sudanese army spokesperson Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami, announced that the South Sudanese parties in the IGAD-led process reached an agreement on the outstanding issues in the security arrangements.

"The final draft agreement will be signed in an official ceremony in presence of President Omer al-Bashir, sponsor of the negotiation process," al-Shami said adding that the signing date of the agreement will be announced later.

The negotiations were mediated by the Sudanese army officials, and the participant held a meeting on Wednesday with the Sudanese defense minister to discuss the last modification to the draft agreement.

Al-Shamdi didn’t disclose the details of the deal on the four unsettled issues but pointed to the positive spirit of the talks and the keenness of the parties to achieve peace.

The Sudanese military numbered the four key areas of disagreement on the security arrangements saying they include determination of demilitarized areas; troops’ cantonment modalities; the timeframe for unification of forces, and the number of parties’ representatives in the Joint Transitional Security Committee.

In the Declaration of Agreement of 27 June, the parties pledged to settle the outstanding issues in the security arrangements and the governance chapters in Khartoum.

On Wednesday, South Sudanese government spokesperson Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said they would now start discussions on the three unresolved issues in the power-sharing chapter. Therefore, it is not clear if they can strike a deal on it.

By the weekend, the parties will move to Nairobi to resume talks there.

In a related development, Foreign Minister El-Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed met on Thursday with the European Union and Troika ambassadors in Khartoum.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team