No deal in latest round of Sudan-South Sudan talks

The latest week-long round of talks between Sudan and South Sudan has ended without any deal on the contentious issues of disputed border areas and oil revenue sharing, mediators said Tuesday.

The two parties did agree that their respective presidents, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and his southern counterpart Salva Kiir, would meet at a summit to be held in South Sudan’s capital Juba “quite soon”, lead mediator Thabo Mbeki told reporters here, without elaborating on the date.

Talks on nationality were stalled after Juba accused Khartoum of failing to address the fate of 35,000 people the South said were being held as “slaves” in Sudan.

“One of the agreements in the document is to set up a joint high-level committee of the two states... to deal with this matter of nationals of the other state,” Mbeki said.

On the oil revenue sharing issue, Mbeki said: “What will happen is when the two parties meet again in the context of the continuing negotiations the matter will serve on their agenda.”

The latest talks ended three days earlier than scheduled.

South Sudan split from the North in July, taking with it 75 percent of the country’s oil, but the export and processing facilities remain in Sudan.

Before the split, the north and south fought a two decade civil war in which more than two million people died.