U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday met with his special envoy for Sudan Princeton Lyman on the recent violence in the African country, the White House said in a statement.
The White House said the discussion touched upon the mediation efforts to end crisis in Abyei and the humanitarian crisis and violence in Southern Kordofan, Xinhua reported.
"The President expressed deep concern over the violence and the lack of humanitarian access, and he underscored the urgent need to get back to cooperative negotiations to enable full and timely implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, including peaceful resolution of the future status of Abyei and the Two Areas," the statement said.
Obama told Lyman that he gave his full support to Lyman's work to press for a successful conclusion of the negotiations to achieve a withdrawal from Abyei and a cessation of hostilities across the region and to support the emergence of two viable states at peace, according to the statement.
Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) representing Khartoum, and the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of South Sudan, erupted in oil-rich South Kordofan on June 5 and has escalated to involve artillery and helicopters.
The violence comes just weeks before South Sudan is due to become an officially independent country on July 9.