Hanna Serwaa Tetteh met with the government spokesperson Michael Makuei in Juba on Wednesday.

She was in Khartoum before coming to South Sudan.

Her visit to Juba comes amidst reports of increased violence in the contested region despite the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission – UNISFA in the area.

The most recent attack happened last week when over 40 civilians including women and children were killed by suspected Misseryia men in separate incidents in the area.

“One of the issues that my office deals with is matters relating to cross-border issues and also on the specific situation of Abyei,” Tetteh said.

“Now am due to give a briefing to the security council shortly on the situation on Abyei, and I thought that it was important to meet key stakeholders both in Sudan and South Sudan to understand their prescriptive, now

“Honorable Michael who I have known for a while, and he has been quite instrumental in different stages of the negotiations process.

“It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet with him to tell him about my new assignment but at the same time to have the benefit of his insides on some of the backgrounds.”

For his part, the Minister of Information, Michael Makuei said his government is ready to cooperate with the Special Envoy in a bid to address the cross-border issues between South Sudan and Sudan.

“We discussed so many issues to do with the horn of Africa and especially with Abyei and the boundaries between Sudan and South Sudan and all these are issues within her dockets,” Makuei said.

“I wish her every success, and we are here in South Sudan ready to cooperate with her in all aspects and we are sure that she will make it, she can make it and she will succeed.”

Upon the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, Abyei was accorded a special administrative status in the Abyei Protocol.

In May last year, President Kiir formed a high-level committee to initiate dialogue with the Sudanese government on the final status of the Abyei Administrative Area.

But such efforts have since not borne results.