Bashir says Sudan, South need peace: Mbeki

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) - Sudan and South Sudan need peace and Khartoum is committed to all security agreements it has signed, African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki on Saturday quoted the Sudanese leader as saying after talks.

"President Bashir confirmed that he believes the two nations... are in need of peace," Mbeki said in a statement after meeting Omar al-Bashir.

The meeting with Bashir capped two days of talks with Sudanese officials as Mbeki tries to push Sudan and South Sudan back to talks, which were suspended after border fighting last month.

He was expected to continue his diplomacy in the South Sudanese capital Juba on Sunday.

Sudan and South Sudan did not comply with a United Nations Security Council demand that they resume the talks by Wednesday, but Mbeki and other diplomats are nonetheless trying to get negotiations restarted.