Sudanand South Sudan signed a non-aggression pact on Friday in a bid to defuse tensions along their common border and avert a war over disputed oil payments.

"The two countries agree to non-aggression and cooperation," chief negotiator Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Adaba, where the talks were held.

South Sudan became a sovereign state when it voted in a popular referendum in January 2011 to secede from Sudan after more than two decades of civil war, formally gaining its independence that July. A number of territorial and economic disputes, however, remain unresolved and have led to military clashes along the two states' frontier.

When South Sudan seceded, it took around three-quarters of Sudan's oil production with it. But the landlocked south can only sell its crude through northern export facilities. South Sudan shut down its entire oil output last January after Khartoum began seizing crude as compensation for what it called unpaid fees.

Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, warned last week that tensions with South Sudan could lead to war between the two countries.

Mutual respect

According to the pact signed on Friday, the two sides agreed to "respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and to "refrain from launching any attack, including bombardment."

The agreement also established a monitoring mechanism that allows either side to lodge complaints if a border dispute erupts. South Sudan and Sudan still contest the oil-rich Abyei region and the Blue Nile states.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the two nations to resolve their differences in the name of their common interests.

"The moment has come for the leaders of both countries to make the necessary compromises…that will guarantee a peaceful and prosperous future," the secretary-general said in a statement.

Talks are expected to continue in the Ethiopian capital on Saturday, with a focus on outstanding oil revenue and pipeline fee issues.

slk/ai (Reuters, AFP)