Sudan to sign deal on outstanding issues under AU mediation

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama attends the opening of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, the United States, Sept. 4, 2012. The U.S. Democratic Party on Tuesday kicked off its 2012 National Convention in Charlotte, which will nominate President Barack Obama as the party's presidential candidate. (Xinhua/Zhang Jun) 

KHARTOUM, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The African Union mediation has set Sept. 21 as a date for Sudan and South Sudan to sign a deal on all outstanding issues between the two countries, Khartoum's Al- Sahafa daily reported Thursday.
The African mediation has handed the two countries' negotiating delegations a paper in which it set current Sept. 21 as a date for signing an agreement regarding all the outstanding issues between the two countries, the paper said.
In the meantime, the paper quoted Deng Alor, South Sudan's Minister of Cabinet Affairs, as saying that "the African mediation has handed the two sides tables in which it set the issues to be discussed including the border, the status of the citizens in the two countries, Abyei, the oil and the economic issues."
"The mediation has also set the period between 15-20 of current month as a date for convening a summit between Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit on the outstanding issues between the two countries", said Alor, according to the paper.
Sudan and South Sudan have been negotiating in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa over many outstanding issues between them including the border demarcation, the oil and the disputed oil- rich area of Abyei under the mediation of the African Union High- Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), headed by former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki.

And Striking miners at the violence-stricken Lonmin Marikana Platinum Mine in South Africa have reached a peace accord with the management and other parties concerned, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Thursday. The peace accord, signed by the various parties in the early hours of this morning in Marikana, the North West Province, "signals the good intentions of the participants to end the violence, threats and intimidation that has become a characteristic in the daily life of Marikana," the union said in a statement.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) confirmed the news, saying the peace accord involves some unions representing striking miners but excluding the more militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).
"It (the accord) further shows the commitment of parties to ending the three week long stand-off. The NUM appreciates the commitment and efforts of the religious community, trade unions Solidarity and UASA, Lonmin and government in working hard to reach the accord which in itself paves the way to re-opening wage negotiations," said the NUM statement.
NUM appeals to AMCU to come on board and be a signatory of the peace accord, saying not being part of the accord "sends a wrong message to the workforce, a message of divisions and lack of common purpose."(Xinhua)