Sudan, South Sudan achieve breakthrough in border dispute

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, left, head of Sudan’s sovereign council, meets with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, in Juba, South Sudan. Picture: SUNA via AP

Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, left, head of Sudan’s sovereign council, meets with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, in Juba, South Sudan. Picture: SUNA via AP

Published Oct 24, 2019

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Sudan and South Sudan have made significant progress towards resolving their border dispute following talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum with only five areas now subject to further negotiations.

Following agreement between the two sides on border lines and the financial cost of the border demarcation programme during the 11th Joint Border Commission talks, witnessed by the African Union office in Sudan, new maps and frontier marks are to be drawn, the East African reported.

However, five areas are still under contention including the Dabba Al Fukhar, Jabal Al Muqainis and Kaka areas on the border as well as Kefi Kenji and the Hofrat Al Nehass commercial areas in South Darfur, a 13-square-kilometre region inhabited by tribes from Darfur in western Sudan.

Sudan and South Sudan have agreed on border lines and the financial cost of a border demarcation programme, but have five other areas to negotiate on. Video: Zodidi Dano/ African News Agency

More than 10 million people live in these disputed areas which are marked by good weather, water and natural resources, making them conducive to farming and livestock keeping.

At the next meeting in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia discussion will focus on the disputed areas with both countries outlining their claims to them.

African News Agency (ANA)

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