Darfur, W. Bahr El Ghazal governors hold bilateral talks
March 14, 2022 (JUBA) -The Governor of Sudan’s Darfur region, Minni Arko Minnawi and his counterpart in South Sudan’s Western Bahr El Ghazal State, Sarah Cleto Rial held talks on peaceful co-existence between both states.
The meeting, held in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Friday also discussed the free movement of people, goods and services between the border states.
Rial, in a statement issued to the media on Friday, said they agreed on opening roads and beefing up security to permit trade and free movement of goods and people between the two border states without hindrance.
“Friday, 11 March 2022, I met with Honorable Mini Arko Minawi, Governor of Darfur Region. I was accompanied by Rt. Hon. Dr Mohamadein Abbakar Mohamadein, appointed Speaker of the Western Bahr el Ghazal State Legislative Assembly and former Minister of Roads and Bridges, and Mr Lual Aguer of Africa Kongdai Company. We discussed topics of mutual interest between our state and Darfur, particularly on the national plan to establish a paved road that connects Buram in Darfur with Timsah in Raja County,” partly reads the statement extended to the Sudan Tribune.
“The Governor of Darfur has already directed their relevant authorities to start the work given a prior survey by engineers,” further reads the statement.
The Western Bahr el Ghazal State governor commended the establishment of relations between the two neighbouring regions for mutual interest and disclosed that she would travel for talks with authorities in Nyala in the near future.
The planned visit, she said, would strengthen and boost the confidence of the existing ties between communities living in proximity in the border areas.
“We also talked about establishing twin states relationships and have received verbal invitations to visit Nyala in the near future to discuss areas of services delivery and development projects for our people in the common border areas,” stressed Rial.
The female governor, accompanied by the Minister of Finance and Culture, Youth and Sports, also visited Timsah in Erre Payam of Raja County.
Timsah is one of the porous border areas requiring strong police and security presence to monitor illicit activities not only between South Sudan and Sudan but also the Central African Republic, which shares an immediate and direct border with Sudan in the northeast and South Sudan in the east.
“This is a continuation of our state government’s tour of the county. Happy to meet my people and celebrate the diversity in the area. The local population, Feroge, and the cattle nomads of Rizeigat, Falata and Habania are living together in harmony,” emphasized Rial.
Meanwhile, communities straddling the Central Africa Republic, Sudan and South Sudan share a lot in common. For instance, the three countries have a common history, traditions, languages, marital ties as well as geography.
Additionally, boundary lines among these countries have not been properly delineated. As such, lack of clarity of where the boundary line lies has always been the source of tension and violent conflict between South Sudan and Sudan. The two countries are to complete border demarcation since 2011 when South Sudan seceded from Sudan following a referendum under the terms of the 2005 peace agreement between the two Sudans.
(ST)