The Secretary General of the UN, Ban ki-Moon, has welcomed the agreement signed on Friday (March 8th) by Sudan and South Sudan, aiming to strengthen border security and lead to the permanent resolution of the outstanding issues between the two countries.

The agreement, covering the establishment of a safe demilitarized border zone, the deployment of the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism and the activation of agreed security-related mechanisms from March 10th, is seen as a breakthrough for the implementation of the Addis Ababa agreements on cooperation, security, the common border and economic relations.

Mr. Ban's statement said "With this agreement, there should be no further conditions in the way of immediate implementation of the other signed September 27th (2012) agreements, including the agreement on oil". The Secretary-General reiterated the United Nations readiness to support the operations of the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism and to assist both parties in the implementation of these agreements.