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| Africa Horn | |
| Sudan, South Sudan sign security pact | |
| 2012-02-12 | |
| ADDIS ABABA: Sudan and South Sudan on Friday signed a security agreement which aims to defuse tensions over oil payments which officials had warned could spark a war between the two countries. Landlocked South Sudan took three-quarters of Sudan's oil production — the lifeline of both economies — but needs to sell its crude through northern export facilities. Both countries have failed to agree on a transit pipeline fee. Juba shut down last month its entire oil output after Khartoum started seizing southern oil as compensation for what it calls unpaid fees. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been trying to mediate an end to the tensions, said the deal was a "non-aggression pact" aimed at avoiding any armed conflict. The security agreement, brokered by the African Union in Addis Ababa, said the two sides agree to "respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in internal affairs, rejection of the use of force, equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence.”
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| Posted by:Steve White |