Sudans Hold Talks at AU Summit

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (L) held talks at the AU summit with his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir on issues including oil, ongoing rebellions in the two countries, and new border crossings, but Bashir refused to discuss the disputed region of Abyei when Kiir tried to raise it.

African leaders get ready to pose for a group photograph at the African Union (AU) summitin Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 25, 2013, at which the 50th anniversary of the founding of the AU's predecessor, the Organization of African Union (OAU) was celebrated and elusive peace in the Sudans was a talking point.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom in discussion after holding a news conference in Addis Ababa May 25, 2013, at which Kerry said he will soon name a new envoy for the Sudans.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki (C) looks as Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir (L) shakes hands with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir at a meeting in January 2013 of the AU panel trying to broker agreement on the disputed region of Abyei.  

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Abyei at this makeshift camp in South Sudan want to return to the disputed border region to take part in a referendum in October about the area's status. 

Khartoum is against an African Union proposal to hold a referendum on the future of the disputed region of Abyei because it says people from the Misseriya tribe, shown here during a protest in Nov. 2012, who are allied with Sudan, will not be allowed to take part in the vote.

Sudan said it had nothing to do with a recent shutdown of oil production in the volatile border region. Production resumed at oil fields like Paloch in South Sudan, shown here, in April after being halted over a transit fee dispute in Jan. 2012. 

The leaders of the two Sudans announced plans at the African Union summit to open four new crossing points along their 2,200-kilometer border.