November 12, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan and South Sudan agreed on Thursday to form a technical committee to demarcate the border between the two countries next January.
The two sides resumed meetings in Khartoum after a series of meetings in Juba last week to discuss the border delimitation and demarcation process in accordance with the principle of the January 1956 borders.
The two parties "will form an 80-member technical committee to demarcate the borders of the two countries next January," said Muaz Tango the head of the Joint Border Commission (JBC) from the Sudanese side.
Speaking before the JBC’s meeting in Khartoum, he stated that the borders are to determine sovereignty.
"They will not be static, but rather open and flexible, taking into account the stakeholders and common interests," he stressed.
The Sudanese official was alluding to the difficult process that the two sides have been working on since the signing of the 2005 peace agreement.
Some border areas such as14-Mile are impossible to demarcate as they are vital for the people from the two sides of the border.
The Director of Sudan Survey Authority, al-Amin Banaga, said that the two parties have a mandate to determine three issues: the agreed border, the disputed border areas and the claimed border areas.
Banaga pointed out that the process of demarcating the borders in the past was not easy due to the presence of opposition in the two countries.
"However, the situation is different now, and those who were opposed to the process will participate in the delegations of border demarcation," he added.
Claimed and disputed areas of the Sudan and South Sudan border include Joudat Al-Fakhar, Jebel al-Migainais, Kaka, Kafia Kingi enclave (Hofrat al-Nahas), and the14-Mile area.
(ST)
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