“An escalation of the conflict could hasten the impending humanitarian crisis in the states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, and fuel distrust between Sudan and South Sudan. Norway is worried that increased violence will have a negative impact on ongoing negotiations and the scheduled summit between the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, and the President of Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir”, said Mr. Støre. “I urge the parties to build on the positive momentum created when they initialized agreements on nationalities and the process for border demarcation,” he added.
Norway strongly urges the Government of Sudan and the SPLM-N to agree on a cessation of hostilities. We urge the Government of Sudan to stop aerial bombardments affecting civilian areas. Norway also calls on the Government of Sudan and SPLM-N to allow immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to civilians in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states. “We also stress that all military support for the SPLM-N must be stopped. We urge the Government of South Sudan and the Government of Sudan to cooperate to bring peace to the border areas. We hope that the planned summit between the presidents of the two countries will help achieve this, in addition to finding political solutions to the disputes concerning conditions for transporting South Sudan’s oil through Sudan, the nationality issue and Abyei,” said Foreign Minister Støre.