Defense and security officials from Sudan and South Sudan are expected to resume talks this week as they seek to implement a deal on border security to pave way for the resumption of the South's transit oil shipments through Sudanese territory, officials said Monday.

South Sudan's delegation, headed by chief oil negotiator Pagan Amum, traveled Monday to the Sudanese capital Khartoum in search of a deal which is expected to unlock the newly independent nation's oil shipments, after nearly a year of closure, said Information Minister Barnaba Benjamin. The talks are expected to start Tuesday.

"Oil facilities are on standby, shipments will start as soon as a deal is reached," Mr. Benjamin said. The first round of talks ended in a stalemate in Juba early last month.

The former civil war foes are meant to create a 10-kilometer demilitarized zone along their common border, to ease tensions. South Sudan threw the economies of the two nations into turmoil in January after halting its 350,000 barrels-a-day oil shipments, amid a bitter spat over oil transit fees with Sudan .

The two nations edged close to an all out war in April, following a spate of deadly clashes along the border. Rabie Abdelaty, the Sudanese government spokesman, said that negotiators expect a deal by the end of the week to allow the creation of the buffer zone. "Our main concern is security along the border, South Sudan must do their part, but we are optimistic," said Mr. Abdelaty.

Oil shipments were initially expected to resume last week, but Sudan blocked the arrangements, demanding that South Sudan must first disarm former rebel allies, Sudan People's Liberation Army North, who are operating in its oil producing states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile .

The rebels fought alongside South Sudan during the two-decade civil war with Sudan but the south says it has since ceased its cooperation with them. Analysts expect little headway in the normalization of the two nation's relations as long as the SPLM-N remains active. Mr. Benjamin said Monday that South Sudan "has nothing" to do with the rebels.

South Sudan expects to start shipping as many as 200,000 barrels-a-day once Sudan clears shipments. The landlocked nation is struggling under the burden of a host of economic difficulties emanating from the closure of oil output. The country retained 75% of the oil fields following its secession in July last year but has to rely on pipelines that straddle through the north to export its crude.

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