I. Introduction
1 . The present report is submitted pursuant to paragraph 5 of Security Council resolution 2046 (2012), in which the Council requested me to report, in consultation with the African Union High-level Implementation Panel, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, on the status of the negotiations between the Sudan and South Sudan. The present report describes the status of the parties’ compliance with that resolution through an evaluation of the security situation on the border between the two countries, a description of the agreements concluded between them on 27 September and an analysis of the outstanding issues. In the light of the communiqué issued by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union on 24 October, the present report takes into account the additional time that the Sudan and South Sudan were given to settle the disputed and claimed areas and agree on a process to determine the final status of Abyei, in addition to the time accorded to the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM/North) to engage in direct talks to agree on humanitarian access to, and the peaceful settlement of the conflict in, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States.