Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, center-left, and South Sudan President Salva Kiir, right, gesture to celebrate the completion of a signing ceremony after the two countries reached a deal on economic and security agreements Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan signed agreements Thursday that will allow a resumption of oil exports from South Sudan, a demilitarized zone between their borders, and a cessation of all hostilities that brought the countries to the brink of all-out war just a few months ago.ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan signed economic and security agreements Thursday that will allow a resumption of oil exports from South Sudan. The two countries also reached deals for a demilitarized zone between their borders and a cessation of all hostilities that brought the countries to the brink of all-out war just a few months ago.
Sudan President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan President Salva Kiir signed the agreement in Ethiopia’s capital, where they have been holding talks since Sunday. The talks were originally scheduled to last only a day. The sides could not agree on a shared border or on how to address the disputed region of Abyei.
Both sides have been under pressure from the U.N. Security Council to resolve the outstanding issues or risk sanctions. South Sudan broke away from Sudan last year after an independence vote that was the culmination of a 2005 peace treaty that ended decades of war that killed more than 2 million people. But the border was never defined, and South Sudan suspended oil production in January after accusing Sudan of stealing its crude, which is transported in pipelines through Sudan. Border clashes escalated in April when South Sudan troops took over an oil town in a region Sudan claims as its own.
With the deal sealed Thursday, officials say only “technical works” remain for oil exports to resume soon. Some officials have said it will take months to clear the pipelines and get oil flowing again.
U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreements, saying Sudan and South Sudan “have written a new page in their common history.”