UK pledges to assist in demarcation of Sudan’s north-south borders

November 8, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The United Kingdom (UK) has pledged to assist in demarcating the tentative borders between north and south Sudan as the latter prepares to secede from the north in a vote scheduled for early 2011.

UK’s Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell, who began a visit to Sudan on Monday, said in a press conference at the British embassy in Khartoum that his country would assist the demarcation of north-south borders.

“We will assist in this matter as the government requests,” he told reporters.

Much of Sudan’s hotly contested north-south borders have yet to be decided, raising fears of a possible return to violence over the oil-producing borderlands if the south decided to secede from the north in a referendum scheduled for January 2011.

The referendum was promised under a 2005’s peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war.

South Sudan’s minister for peace Pagan Amum told Sudan Tribune in an interview on November 01 that Sudan would seek assistance from the UK in demarcating north-south borders since it is the country which has custody of historical documents on the border issue.

Mitchell, whose visit to Sudan will last until November 11, expressed concerns over the lack of security in Darfur as well as the recent wave of arrests against Darfur activists and journalists. He further stressed the necessity of serving justice in Darfur and not allowing impunity.

The past week saw the Sudanese security authorities arresting a number of Darfur activists and journalists, some of whom now face charges of cooperating with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Prior to the press conference, the UK minister held meetings with senior government officials, including 2nd Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Foreign Minister Ali Karti, presidential adviser Ghazi Salah al-Din and chairman of Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil.

The British international development secretary said that his meetings with Sudanese officials had discussed preparations for the referendum and developments in Darfur.

Mitchell pointed out that his meeting with Taha had revolved around the government’s commitment to hold the referendum on time and to establish cooperative and economic relations with the south in the event of secession.

Last week, UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that Sudan would stand on top of UK’s priorities during its rotating chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council for the month of November.

“Our highest priority will be Sudan. On 16 November I will chair a Security Council debate on Sudan. It will focus on the importance of peaceful and credible referenda in January 2011 and progress on the political, humanitarian and security situation in Darfur,” Hague said.

UK is Sudan’s former colonizer from which it gained independence in 1956.

(ST)