South Sudan deputy seeks post-independence resolution with Khartoum visit

South Sudan's new Vice President Taban Deng Gai on Sunday landed in Khartoum on Sunday for a two-day talk on outstanding issues unresolved since Sudan's north-south split in 2011.

It is Deng's first visit to Sudan the vice president having replaced former rebel leader Riek Machar following clashes and massacres in South Sudan's capital last July, which left hundreds dead.

"We have received Taban Deng as the first vice president of South Sudan," Sudan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Kamal Ismail told reporters at Khartoum airport.

While Khartoum has recognised Deng as South Sudan's vice president, east Africa's eight-nation trading and security bloc - of which Sudan is a member - has yet to formally acknowledge his appointment.

Deng headed straight for meetings with senior Sudanese officials, and he is due to meet President Omar al-Bashir on Monday.

"During his official visit, he will hold talks on several bilateral and regional issues," Ismail said.

Deng is accompanied by South Sudan's defence and energy ministers as well as senior intelligence officials from Juba.

After a 1983-2005 civil war, the mainly Christian south of Sudan split from the Muslim north in July 2011, following a referendum six months earlier.

Armed revolts on both sides of the border, however, have soured relations between their two governments.

Key issues include the status of the Khartoum-occupied border district of Abyei and Juba's payments for the use of an oil export pipeline through Sudan.

In June, the South Sudan ministers of foreign affairs, oil and the interior also held talks in Khartoum on oil and border issues.

South Sudan's oil production has virtually ground to a halt since a civil war erupted there in December 2013, when President Salva Kiir accused Machar of plotting a coup.

Machar was later dismissed and replaced by Deng on July 25. On Thursday, an aide to Machar said he had escaped to the Democratic Republic of Congo.