Clinton calls for renewed Sudan talks

WASHINGTON — The birth of South Sudan is an important first step toward peace for a troubled region, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday, calling for renewed talks to cement the tenuous truce."Just as independence was not inevitable, neither is a lasting peace between Sudan and South Sudan," Clinton wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post."Decades of war have left deep distrust on both sides," said Clinton, urging both sides to "quickly return to the negotiating table and seek to complete the unfinished business of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement."For decades, until the CPA was signed in 2005, southern rebels fought successive wars with the north, leaving the region in ruins, millions of people dead and a legacy of mutual mistrust.South Sudan's independence Saturday came exactly six months after southerners voted almost unanimously to split with their former enemies in the north, after a two-decade civil war in which some two million people died.But Clinton said more talks were needed to answer "outstanding questions related to finances, oil and citizenship; demarcating remaining border areas, and fully implementing their agreement on temporary arrangements for the contested Abyei area."Claimed by both sides, Abyei did not take part in the independence referendum because the rival parties could not agree who should be eligible to vote. An accord to demilitarize the territory was reached on June 20.Clinton expressed concern over a recent flare-up of violence in the region, which she said "cannot be allowed to return and jeopardize the larger peace."The UN Security Council last month ordered a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to the territory in a bid to douse tensions ahead of the split.With fighting also flaring in the neighboring state of South Kordofan, north-south rivalry is still an international concern despite Saturday's declaration of independence.Clinton, who met with leaders of Sudan and South Sudan in Addis Ababa last month, said that each country also has subst

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