Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs | photo | Sudanese Embassy, Berlin

The Sudanese minister of foreign affairs says the parties could not sign the preliminary agreement because the South Sudan government had asked for more time to consult.

Al-dirdiri Mohamed said the signing should have been done on Thursday, but it has been pushed because the parties are still negotiating on the outstanding issues.

This include, the number of vice presidents, members of parliament and the ministerial posts.

“We received a letter from the government of South Sudan stating that they don’t think that the current negotiations on power sharing and governance had reached a level for signing a final deal,” said Al-dirdiri.

He said the government delegation suggested that the discussion should focus more on the permanent ceasefire rather than power sharing.

“We have postponed the initialing today (Friday), and we will start around of informal consultation with all the parties,” he added.