Sudan Rejects South Sudan's Time Buying Policy

President of Sudan Omar Hassan al-Bashir, former South African President Thabo Mbeki and President Silva Kiir of South Sudan at a cooperation agreement celebration in Ethiopia. The two states have pledged to end differences., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Sudan Rejects South Sudan's Time Buying Policy

Sudan Vision

Sudan has officially rejected South Sudan's request delaying negotiations on border demarcation scheduled February 15 this month to May.

Minister of State in the Presidency and Chief negotiator, Idriss Abdul Gadir said the Sudanese government has notified Chairman of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, Thabo in a letter that South Sudan's request is backtrack on what was agreed upon.

The date scheduled for negotiations on February 15 has passed and this will indicate that the South Sudanese government is not ready to go ahead with resolving the dispute and other post secession issues. Like lawyers with complicated suits, South Sudan has resorted to delay and procrastination betting on imminent changes that could turn the situation upside down.

Juba is interested in buying time, although AU Security and Peace Council has extended the mission of the African mediation for six months to help resolve the Sudanese-South Sudanese dispute within African framework.

The extension was consequent of Sudanese diplomatic efforts ahead of AUPSC meeting in Addis Ababa to keep the dispute within the African body and block any attempt to refer it to UN Security Council (UNSC).

Sudan's insistence stems from its knowledge and conviction that UNSC will just complicate and deepen the differences.

The South Sudanese government, however, has urged the African to issue a resolution regarding the dispute otherwise it will refer it to UNSC. The South Sudanese diplomatic efforts have failed to abort the successful Sudanese diplomatic shuttles in African or pressure the African Union to issue a resolution.

South Sudan, therefore is delaying the negotiations for the allowed period to pass so as to justify UNSC's intervention.

Supporting this policy, Washington has called for donors' conference on South Sudan to alleviate the stark economic crisis in the infant state following the cessation of oil exports and help Juba survive and overstep the current period, hoping that the African Union will fail to pave the way before Security Council's interfere.