Hillary Clinton, William Hague, and Espen Barth Eide Welcome Tomorrow's Presidential Summit in Addis Ababa
Joint
Statement by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Norwegian Foreign
Minister Espen Barth Eide, and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William
Hague
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 3, 2013
Following
is the text of a joint statement by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, and United Kingdom
Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Begin Text:
We
welcome the news that the Presidents of Sudan and South Sudan are to
meet in Addis Ababa on 4 January in a further effort to resolve
outstanding issues between the two countries. We applaud the progress
made at their Presidential Summit held in Addis Ababa at the end of
September 2012, which demonstrated that a durable and equitable
settlement is within reach.
We commend the continuing valuable
role of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel led by former
President Thabo Mbeki and the efforts of Ethiopian Prime Minister
Hailemariam Desalegn.
We regret that progress in implementing the
Agreements signed on 27 September has stalled and in particular that the
agreed security arrangements at the border are not yet in place. We
call on the two leaders now to address concretely all outstanding issues
and ensure that the armed forces of the two countries immediately
withdraw from the demilitarized zone and deploy the Joint Border and
Verification and Monitoring Mechanism (JBVMM), in line with what has
been agreed.
We stress the importance of making progress in
parallel on other parts of the relationship between the two countries.
Full implementation of all agreements on their own terms and without
preconditions or linkages between them, will help build confidence and
benefit the people of the two countries. The restart of oil production
and export will be particularly valuable for both economies and should
not be held up by negotiation on other issues.
We underline our
support for the approach taken by the African Union to the question of
Abyei. The proposal made by former President Mbeki is based on the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, including the Abyei Protocol. The
proposal, adopted by AUPSC on October 24, sets out a clear path towards
determining Abyei’s final status in accordance with agreements already
signed by both parties, while protecting the rights of all communities
and ensuring Abyei can become a model for cross-border cooperation and
coexistence. We note in particular that the proposal provides for
Abyei’s continuing special status as a bridge between the two countries
with guaranteed political and economic rights for both the Ngok Dinka
and Misseriya, whatever the outcome of the referendum. We urge the two
countries to meet to elaborate on these rights and to move toward
agreement on Abyei’s final status.
We remind the leaders of Sudan
and South Sudan that the international community is fully committed to a
vision of two viable countries at peace with one another, and that we
stand ready to support them in realizing that vision. We strongly urge
them to seize the opportunity of the Summit meeting on 4 January to
demonstrate their commitment to implement what they have agreed and make
peaceful coexistence a reality.
