The Minister of Information, who also serves as the Co-Chair of the South Sudan Joint Border Commission, Michael Makuei briefed the Community of Raja about the commission’s work on the status of Kafiakingi, a disputed territory between South Sudan and Sudan.
Makuei revealed to the community on Friday that the South Sudanese border commission has all the legal documents to prove that Kafiakingi is a South Sudanese territory.
“The dispute over the area started after the independence of Sudan in 1956, the commission has all the documents confirming the Kafiakingi area as part of South Sudan,” he said.
According to Maaz Tango, the head of Sudan’s Joint Border Commission, the two countries exchanged opinions on the documents in June 2021, and each had to justify their claim based on British colonial frontiers delineation on January 1, 1956.
Speaking on behalf of the community of Raja, the Minister of Wildlife Conservations and Tourism, Rizik Zakharia Hassan, commended the Joint Border Commission team for briefing the community on the matters of concern.
Meanwhile, Dr Wek Mamer Kuol, the Deputy Co-Cahir of South Sudan Joint Border Commission, said the commission is dedicated to continuing to engage Sudan in order to settle the remaining issues involving the two countries.
In October, a committee comprised of members from both nations was formed in Juba to address the South Sudan-Sudan boundary dispute.
The Joint Border Commission and the Joint Political and Security Mechanism of South Sudan and Sudan agreed to form an eight-member group to identify some of the border’s most difficult issues.
The resolution was discussed at the committee’s first joint meeting in Juba, which was headed by First Vice President Dr Riek Machar. He asked the Joint Border Commission and the Joint Political and Security Mechanism to expedite the implementation of the 2012 agreements struck between the two countries.
He stated that putting those agreements into effect would assist improve bilateral cooperation.
Furthermore, Dr Bashir El-tahir, a representative of the Sudan Joint Political and Security Mechanism, expressed confidence in the current favourable political climate between the two nations, noting that it supports the work of the Joint Border Commission.
El-tahir added that the proposed committee would assist the two processes in resolving the ongoing border conflict between the sisterly countries.
One of the committee’s objectives, according to Angelina Teny, South Sudan’s minister of defence and veteran affairs and chairperson of the Joint Political and Security body, will be to enlighten the population living near the disputed borders.
Abyei, Kaka El Tijariya, Debbat El Fukhar/Megenes Mountains, Bahr El Arab, and Kafia Kingi/Hafrat El Nukhas, among others, are contested borders between South Sudan and Sudan.
On October 20, Makuei said that the resumption of the Joint Border Commission meeting in Juba was a starting point for permanently discussing and resolving border issues between Sudan and South Sudan. He explained that parties have been alternating between agreeing and disagreeing since 2013.
In October 2019, the two countries signed an agreement on the full demarcation of their borders, mediated by the African Union Boundary Commission in Addis Ababa.