Mbeki urges Sudanese leaders to talk

KHARTOUM, Sudan, March 16 (UPI) -- It is a matter of urgency for Sudanese leaders to return to the negotiating table before South Sudan's independence in July, a South African leader said.

Leaders from the south's ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement suspended talks with the north's National Congress Party because of allegations the northern government in Khartoum was backing rebel groups in South Sudan.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, chairman of the African Union's high-level panel on Sudan, urged Sudanese leaders to return to the negotiating table.

He said he was optimistic a settlement could be reached before South Sudan gains formal independence in July, the Sudan Tribune reports.

A referendum for an independent South Sudan passed in January. The measure was part of a bilateral 2005 peace deal that ended a bloody civil war, though post-referendum conflict threatens to derail the peace process.

A trilateral group of U.S., British and Norwegian delegates urged both parties to take "immediate measures" to control fighters under their influence and return to the negotiating table.

Fighting in late February between rival Sudanese nomad groups killed at least 10 people in the oil-rich region of Abyei.

Though South Sudan is set to become an independent nation in July, matters such as border demarcation and the rights to natural resources remain to be settled.