Presidents of Sudan, South Sudan Meet in Bid to Avoid War - Voice of America (blog)

Posted Saturday, July 14th, 2012 at 11:50 pm

The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan have met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and pledged to negotiate their differences peacefully.

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and President Salva Kiir of South Sudan met Saturday on the sidelines of an African Union summit. It was the first meeting between the two since their countries came close to war in April over oil revenue, border disputes and security issues.

After years of conflict between the largely Muslim north and the mostly Christian south, a 2005 peace accord paved the way for the independence of South Sudan in 2011.

The two countries face the threat of sanctions from the United Nations Security Council unless they resolve differences over oil revenues and border demarcation by an August 2 deadline.