South Sudan FV-P, Al Bashir agree on oil, security issues

South Sudan's new First Vice-President Taban Deng Gai and Sudanese officials discussed outstanding issues on Sunday as he began his two-day visit to Khartoum.

Gai's visit to Sudan as First Vice President comes weeks after he replaced opposition leader Riek Machar following July clashes in Juba.

In a press statement, El Rashid Haroun, Sudan’s State Minister at the Presidency, said the visiting First Vice President met with President Omar Al Bashir at the Republican Palace on Monday. He pointed out that the meeting discussed matters pertaining to security and peace in South Sudan.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese minister of petroleum Awad Zaid and his southern counterpart Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth held talks on the resumption of oil production in Unity State and increase of oil outputs in Upper Nile State.

Taban Deng Gai said that his country has asked Khartoum to provide technical assistance to restart oil production from oil fields in Unity area. Unity oil fields have been shut down since 2014 due to the fighting between the government and SPLM-IO troops. The lack of oil revenue affected the fragile economy of the new state as it depends entirely on crude exports.

The official Sudanese News Agency (Suna) reported that Gai and Sudanese officials also agreed to reopen the border crossing point in a maximum period of three weeks.

According to Gai, South Sudan will never be a launching pad for any hostile action against Sudan, expressing hope that it would also not be a launching pad for opposition leader and former South Sudanese vice-president Riek Machar. Machar is in Khartoum for urgent medical treatment, the Sudanese Information Minister announced this week.