The National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) agreed at the conclusion of a two-day workshop in Cairo to hold the referendum for southern Sudan as planned in January 2011.
The workshop kicked off on Monday, 2 August, and tackled the issues of borders and national debts.
Al-Sahafah daily newspaper quoted sources as saying that the two partners were also discussing a paper presented by the Egyptian intelligence on the relations between north and south Sudan in both cases of unity and separation.
The agreement to hold the referendum as planned appears to be in stark contrast to statements made by officials from both parties on the issue of referendum versus border-demarcation.
The NCP officials recently made several statements maintaining that south Sudan’s referendum would not be held unless north-south borders are demarcated.
SPLM officials stressed that the referendum would go ahead even if borders are undecided.
The joint statement also said that the two partners had agreed to join efforts to conquer all difficulties facing the implementation of the Abyei Protocol.