UN holds Sudanese peace negotiations

The United Nations Security Council will hold a full session on Thursday to listen to a report from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and African Union special envoy Haile Menkerios, amid attempts to resolve recent disputes between Sudan and South Sudan. The report is expected to monitor the state of negotiations between the two countries, following a Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement signed in September 2012 in Addis Ababa. Sudanese Ambassador at the UN Daffa-Allah al-Hag Ali Osman said the session would prepare a new round of talks, slated for mid-February. A Sudanese government source meanwhile criticised the move, telling Arabstoday that South Sudan had "more than once sought to bring its conflicts [with Sudan] onto the international stage rather than the African one." Sudan's ruling National Congress party [NCP] has criticised the UN for saying it would intervene in the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains should the South Sudanese government not break off relations with the Sudan People’s Liberatopm Movement North [SPLM-N]. The move “represents interference in Sudanese affairs,” the NCP said, claiming the Security Council report came “under pressure by powerful states pushing it in their desired direction.” NCP foreign affairs chief Ibrahim Ghandour reiterated his country's rejection of "foreign interventions to impose resolutions on internal problems." Attempts to do so, he said, will be unsuccessful. Ghandour also revealed that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is willing to meet with his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir, at any time to discuss relations between the two countries.