Sudan’s Bashir says he wants peace with southern neighbor

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has called for peace and normal ties with South Sudan as the neighbors move to reestablish relations.

In his first visit to South Sudan since it split off from his country in 2011, Bashir on Friday said he was in Juba because now the two sides had “the biggest chance to make peace.”

Bashir, who cancelled a visit to Juba a year ago amid flaring border tensions, addressed hundreds of Muslim worshippers in the southern capital following talks with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir in the State House.

“I have instructed Sudan’s authorities and civil society to open up to their brothers in the Republic of South Sudan,” he said before joining the Friday prayers.

Bashir’s visit is hoped to help the neighbors end conflicts and solve their remaining territorial disputes.

“We won’t go back to war. President Kiir and I agreed that the war was too long,” the Sudanese leader said in reference to the years-long war that killed thousands of people.

Kiir, for his part, said he had agreed with Bashir to continue talks to solve all differences over disputed regions along their volatile 2,000 kilometer frontier.

“I and President Bashir agreed to implement all cooperation agreements,” said the southern leader, who was invited by Bashir to visit Khartoum.

South Sudan halted its 350,000-barrel-a-day oil output in January 2012, at the height of a pipeline fee dispute that inflicted a heavy blow to both troubled economies.

The two sides subsequently agreed to restart oil shipments, grant residency to each others’ citizens, boost border trade and strengthen cooperation between their central banks.

In September, both nations withdrew troops from border areas as agreed in a deal mediated by the African Union, but deep mistrust did not allow them to set up the demilitarized border zone until March.