Sudan's president agrees to meet his counterpart of South Sudan

SudaneseOnline-Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, has agreed to attend an African Union-mediated presidential summit with his South Sudan counterpart to push forward negotiations over a string of disputes that continue to hamper resumption of oil production in South Sudan.

The Sudanese delegation in Addis Ababa, where negotiations are taking place, said in a statement that Mr. Bashir had accepted in principal the AU's invitation for a summit meeting with South Sudan's Salva Kiir on a date to be fixed later.

Mr. Bashir had turned down an invitation to attend a summit slated for July 31. His change of heart came on the day of a deadline set by the United Nations, requiring the formerly united countries to resolve outstanding disputes or face sanctions.

Negotiators remain at odds over which map to use in order to set up a demilitarized zone along the two nations' poorly-marked common border, which was a scene of deadly clashes earlier this year.

Negotiations on oil transit fees have also stalled after both sides rejected each other's "last" offer on what South Sudan should pay to ship its crude through Sudan's pipelines and ports. Sudan lowered its demands to $32 a barrel over the weekend from $36 a barrel, far short of the $9 a barrel South Sudan has proposed.

The dispute continues to hamper the resumption of shipments of around 350,000 barrels a day of oil from South Sudan, and has helped plunge both nations' economies into crisis.