South Sudan President to Visit Khartoum Tuesday

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir is set to visit Sudan Tuesday for talks with his Sudanese counterpart aimed at averting a cutoff of cross-border oil transfers.

The Khartoum daily al-Sudani says the two-day talks between Mr. Kiir and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will mark a major breakthrough in relations between the neighbors. The two countries have been at odds since South Sudan won independence from the north in 2011, after more than two decades of civil war.

Both governments agreed earlier this year to defuse tensions and resume oil exports from landlocked South Sudan through the north to the Red Sea.

But the Khartoum government has threatened to halt oil transfers by September 6, unless South Sudan cuts ties with rebels operating near and across the disputed and unmarked border.

The government in Juba has denied providing rebels any support.



The armies of the two countries clashed along the border last year in escalating disputes over pipeline transfer fees, border demarcation and control of revenue-producing oil fields.

Arabic Forum