KHARTOUM: Arab League chief Amr Moussa said on Tuesday that he saw no indication that north and south Sudan would return to war, with a referendum on independence for the south looming.
"I don’t see any indication that the parties have the willingness to go back to war," Mussa told reporters in Khartoum.
"What is going on between them is far away from war. There is a political good will."
Moussa was speaking at the start of a two-day visit to Sudan that will also take him to the southern capital Juba.
North and south Sudan fought a devastating 22-year civil war, in which some two million people died, that formally ended with the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement in 2005.
The Jan. 9 referendum is the key plank of the 2005 peace deal and is widely expected to bring independence to the south.
Since July, Khartoum and Juba have been unsuccessfully discussing the key post-referendum sticking points, including future citizenship arrangements, the sharing out of natural resources — especially oil — security and compliance with international accords.
"I will discuss post-referendum issues in Khartoum and Juba and how to save a good relationship between the north and the south," Moussa said.
"The future of the relationship has an impact on the region."
