S. Sudan says working with Uganda to settle border dispute

May 4, 2018 (JUBA) – South Sudan said it has established a working committee with Uganda to settle ongoing tension between border communities that have involved the military from the two countries.

The spokesperson for South Sudan’s foreign affairs ministry, Mawien Makol to resolve misunderstandings between the Acholi people of Magwi county and those who hail from Lamwo district of Uganda.

“It has been communal disagreement among the communities on both sides over land. There was an encroachment on the side of South Sudan,” Mawien was quoted saying.

In August 2015, more than 200 gunmen from Magwi county entered into Uganda and were later driven out by the Ugandan army.

The two countries are yet to resolve the land dispute in the Moyo area of Uganda, bordering KajoKeji area of South Sudan with especially the Gbari area being contested by both the Madi and Kuku ethnic groups.

The outbreak of conflict has compromised South Sudan’s security along its porous border points as millions of refugees have fled into neighbouring Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar led to split within the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), before the conflict took an ethnic dimension.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in South Sudan’s worst outbreak of violence since its independence.

(ST)