Sudan to open humanitarian corridor for aid to South Sudan
October 5, 2017 (JUBA) – The Sudanese government has agreed to open humanitarian corridors to deliver food aid to South Sudan, the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation deputy commissioner said.
“I have received a notification from the Humanitarian Affairs Commission in Sudan stating that it has agreed to open a humanitarian corridor for the delivery of food assistance through the World Food Programme to the affected citizens in the country through the port of Aweil city,” the official told Anadolu Agency.
Khartoum’s approval, the official further stated, would facilitate the transfer of about 1,000 tonnes of food aid to areas affected by lack of food, especially those adjacent to the Sudan border, stressing that opening the humanitarian corridor will reduce transport costs, and will contribute to the rapid delivery of this emergency aid.
Sudan closed its borders with South Sudan soon after the latter seceded from it following a self-determination referendum in 2011.
South Sudan announced that it has entered into negotiations with neighbouring Sudan to utilize water transport in order to boost trade between the two countries.
South Sudan’s trade minister, Moses Hassan Tiel, said the Nile River is the main trade route between the two nations and links Juba to Sudan’s border town of Kosti.
According to the trade minister, re-opening of river transport with Sudan would reduce the cost of doing business in the young nation.
“River transport between Sudan and South Sudan is the most viable route of transport and it is the cheapest mode of transportation between the two countries,” the minister told reporters in Juba.
Bilateral relations between South Sudan and Sudan were officially started on 9 July 2011 following the former’s independence from the latter. Sudan became the first country in the world to recognize the independence of South Sudan.
Since South Sudan’s independence, however, relations between the two neighbouring nations have been poor and frantic. In 2012, Sudan halted river transportation between it and South Sudan following the latter’s independence.
(ST)