Sudan/S. Sudan border meetings kick off in Khartoum

By Bahram Abdel-Moneim

KHARTOUM

Meetings of the Sudan/South Sudan Joint Border Commission (JBC), tasked with demarcating the border between the two countries, kicked off Wednesday in capital Khartoum.

“The commission’s primary objective is to prepare a comprehensive report on the demarcation of the borderline between the two countries," JBC Sudan Chairman Abdulla al-Sadiq said at an opening session.

"The meetings in Khartoum, which will go on for five days, will be devoted to preserving the interests of the two peoples living along the 2,400-kilometer border," he added.

"We will do our best to complete the demarcation of the border,” he said.

“We are determined to carry out the mission in a safe manner in accordance with directives issued by the leaderships of both countries," he added.

Darius Garang, JBC chairman for South Sudan, for his part, stressed the committee’s commitment to achieving its goals.

“We hope the meetings [in Khartoum] will produce fruitful results,” he said. “The task is difficult but not impossible.”

In 2011, South Sudan split from Sudan following a popular referendum held earlier the same year. Two years later, civil war erupted in South Sudan between government and opposition forces.

In the six years since South Sudan declared independence from its northern neighbor, differences have continued to dog the two countries’ relations -- especially over the disputed Abye region.

At a joint press conference held last month in Khartoum, Sudanese Defense Minister Ahmed Awad ibn Auf said the two countries had agreed to redeploy their forces away from their shared border to allow for the establishment of a 20-kilometer-long demilitarized zone.