New deal will help cross-border trade, say Sudanese traders

By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

March 15, 2013 (BENTIU) – Sudanese traders in Bentiu town and Rubkotna county in South Sudan’s Unity state have welcomed the renewed commitment to implement a cooperation agreement between the two countries.

South Sudanese oil exports are expected to resume within weeks following a breakthrough meeting earlier this month.

The border between Unity state and Sudan’s South Kordofan state was closed just after South Sudan gained independence in 2011.

However, last week’s deal between the two Sudans, signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, under African Union (AU) mediation has given Sudanese merchants renewed hope that they will be able to resume importing goods into South Sudan.

Relations between the two nations soured after South Sudan’s independence following a series of disputes over a number of issues.

South Sudan stopped exporting oil through Sudan over a year ago, accusing the Khartoum government of confiscating its crude.

Although the two Sudans signed a cooperation agreement last September agreeing to demilitarise the border and allow South Sudan to resume oil production, the deal was never implemented due to ongoing disagreements over security issues, most notably South Sudan’s alleged backing of rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

Gisma Albaker Tabied, a 34-year-old Sudanese woman who owns a restaurant in Rubkotna county, says that the new deal reached between the two governments could halt price increases.

“The high cost of goods will automatically drop down. Initially the transportation cost of one bag of sorghum was at 25 SSP which became much [more] costly at 700 SSP per 100kg, and importation of goods became very difficult in which one tonne bags cost 4,000 SSP and we are hoping if cross-border trading resumes this will help us a lot to reduce the prices”, said Tabied.

Smuggling goods from Sudan into South Sudan became increasingly risky after a short border conflict in April last year, with Khartoum warning that anyone caught taking goods across the border could be shot.

Hamed Sad Adom, a trader from Sudan, said that bringing goods into South Sudan through South Kordofan remained extremely difficult.

He said that traders had suffered “lots of losses since the border was closed between Sudan and South Sudan”, with some traders arrested and their vehicles confiscated after attempting to smuggle goods into South Sudan.

Hamed Aldow Mohamed, another trader from South Kordofan, said the new deal could potentially benefit the economies of both countries.

“I really congratulate both presidents of Sudan and South Sudan on reaching a deal in Addis Ababa to benefit both citizens from [the] two Sudans in term of resuming [a] border relationship”, Mohamed said.

“Since 2011, relations between [the] two countries was nervous and everything rose up in terms of commodities prices. This forced many citizens in both [the] north and South to buy the expensive goods without any option”, he added.

(ST)