KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A senior south Sudanese official said on Sunday his group had reached a deal with the main northern party on laws related to democratic reforms that had threatened a peace deal in oil-producing Sudan.

"We have reached agreement on three very important laws which have been grounds for serious disagreements between the two parties," Sudan People's Liberation Movement secretary general Pagan Amum told reporters after a meeting with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who heads the National Congress Party.

Amum said the laws covered the national referendum, a consultation exercise for people living in boundary areas between north and south Sudan and a referendum on whether the oil-producing region of Abyei should join the south.