South Sudan and Sudan Set Oil Deal - New York Times

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) — Sudan and South Sudan ended weeks of haggling by announcing a border security agreement on Wednesday that will allow the resumption of southern oil exports through the north, spokesmen for both sides said.

The Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir, reached their breakthrough after meeting personally six times since Sunday, both delegations said, creating a pact crucial to reviving their nations’ economies after their armies came close to all-out war along a disputed frontier in April.

The African Union worked to broker the agreement, and the United Nations Security Council had warned of sanctions against both states if no deal was made.

Ethiopia’s government, the host for the talks, had arranged for a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, only to postpone it because of last-minute haggling. The United Nations had set a Sept. 22 deadline for a deal but informally extended it until the end of the Addis Ababa summit meeting.

Last month the two sides reached an interim deal to restart oil exports from the landlocked South Sudan through the north to Red Sea ports after the South shut down its wells in a squabble over transit fees. Experts say restoring the oil flows could take several months.

While the security deal should provide both nations with the oil revenues needed to stave off economic collapse, the countries have yet to sort out several other conflicts left over from South Sudan’s secession in July 2011.

They still must agree on marking out their 1,200-mile common border, where there are at least five disputed sections.

Mr. Bashir and Mr. Kiir also discussed a solution to the disputed border region of Abyei. Plans for a referendum on the matter are snagged over who should be able to vote.

The two presidents are also expected to sign deals to increase cross-border trade and grant citizens of each nation residency in the other’s country, ending uncertainty for South Sudanese living in Sudan.