adminposturing on both sides will complicate and slow talks over oil transit fees and other sensitive disputes.
Juba and the United Nations accused Sudan of bombing Yida camp in Unity State last week, plunging north-south relations to the lowest point since the South seceded in July, the culmination a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war.
Khartoum has repeatedly denied the charges and accused the South of backing rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, two war-stricken states on the northern side of the tense and poorly demarcated border.
Analysts say the tensions may make it harder for the two to agree on a transit fee to pump the South’s oil through Sudan’s pipelines, contested border areas, transitional financial assistance and debt – all issues left unresolved at the split.
Degenerating relations may also make it less likely the two will soon find a compromise for the disputed border region of Abyei that Khartoum seized in May after an attack on an army convoy blamed on southern troops. Sudan and South Sudan are expected to resume oil talks next week in Ethiopia after negotiations collapsed over the summer. In the past week both sides have ratcheted up their rhetoric. – AFP.
Online Reporter