Intergovernmental Authority on Development - East African leaders have arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, for Monday's crucial Summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), called to discuss outstanding political issues ahead of South Sudan’s independence this week. President Omar El-Bashir and Vice President Salva Kiir will meet other IGAD leaders, including Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, to discuss the full implementation of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005.

IGAD Chair, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, is hosting the Summit in Addis Ababa because Ethiopia is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has a pending arrest warrant against the Sudanese leader.

“Top on the Summit agenda is the latest developments on the implementation of the CPA on Sudan,” said a statement from President Kibaki’s office, announcing his arrival in Addis Ababa.

“The Summit is expected to make a breakthrough on the pending issues between the parties to the Sudanese peace process with regard to the CPA implementation,” the statement said.

The region’s leaders are expected to use the opportunity offered by the summit to extract a deal over the demarcation of the North-South Sudan border, the citizenship issues between the two sides and the sharing of oil wealth.

South Sudanese officials have in the past declined to take part in the demarcation of the border, arguing they could not guarantee the security of their officers overseeing the demarcation.

Pana 04/07/2011