Addis Ababa-The USA Minister of foreign John Kerry has said he soon will appoint a special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan to replace Princeton Lyman, who helped negotiate the resumption of oil exports from South Sudan through Sudan.
Kerry pointed out that one of the priorities of the new envoy will be to help resolve problem of the oil-rich Abyei region, where there is a dispute over who is entitled to vote in a referendum on staying in Sudan or left to join the Southern Sudan.
This came during a press conference held by U.S. Secretary of State with his Ethiopian counterpart Adhanom Tdros after meeting Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Ethiopia.
He stressed that it is working with the African Union to put an end to the violence on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, pointing out that they are going through a very delicate phase, it is important to be assisted by the international community to focus on the development in the future and not fighting on the issues of the past.
Kerry said, "in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, there are people who have long felt that they want to secular governance and respect for their identity .. They do not want independence, not seeking to secede from Sudan"
But he added that "Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is trying to squeeze them through authoritarian means and through violence, they simply do not want to accept it with the standard of Islamic movement."
"It is crucial in my opinion here is President al-Bashir to respect what people in South Kordofan and Blue Nil are trying achieved."
and conflicts Control protracted that tensions between the governments of Khartoum and Juba, including at the provincial level in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, Kerry pointed out that he wants to resolve these differences.
It was scheduled to vote in Abyei in conjunction with the 2011 referendum on the broader independence of South Sudan, but it was delayed because of the violence between the Dinka residents and migrants, mostly from the Misseriya.