Email
Print
Save
September 3, 2011 (BENTIU) - Demarcating the border between Sudan and newly independent South Sudan will help build a sustainable peace between the two countries, a representative from Concordis International - a conflict resolution NGO - said on Saturday.
Mandy Gardner, Concordis’ South Sudan country director told Sudan Tribune at a workshop in Bentui that one of the biggest challenges for communities on either side of the world’s newest international border is the lack of trade.
After South Sudan’s independence last month as part of a 2005 peace deal, Sudan has restricted the flow of goods southwards to its new neighbour.
The border areas are full of weapons that are in the possession of the armies in the two states, other armed groups and civilians. Border tensions are high with conflict ongoing in two states of North Sudan.
Fighting between allies of South Sudan’s ruling party the Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Sudanese army in Blue Nile state, which borders South Sudan, broke out in the early hours of Friday.
Last June, conflict also erupted in South Kordofan , another border state, between the SPLM’s norther sector (SPLM-N) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).
As well as South Sudanese returning to the country, northern residents from the two states have also crossed into South Sudan to escape the fighting. According to Concordis the movement of people and trade into South Sudan is being blocked by North Sudan resulting in dramatically increasing food prices and shortages.
In late August Makuc Makuc Ngongdit, a political advisor to the governor of South Sudan’s Warrap state governor said prices have increased in all states that border the North.
“Prices of basic commodities have increased. This is because the government in Khartoum has closed the supplying routes not only for Warrap but for other neighbouring states at the borderline”, said Makuc.
Concordis’ South Sudan director said it was "unfortunate" that prices of food have "increased dramatically" making it "harder and harder to get food". She also expressed concern over the number of small arms in the border areas leading "killing and harassment".
Gardner added that there is a need to put pressure on both sides to have a peaceful resolution to border issues. A deal on the demilitarising the border has not be implemented.
In Unity state, she said, people are very interested in having a soft border but that there is a problem with nomadic groups from Sudan crossing into South Sudan.
Gardner said if communities on both sides treated each other with respect it would be in both their interests to have a border over which North and South Sudanese could travel, trade freely and carry on with their lives.
She added that communities in the border areas were interested in having a say in the ongoing high-level negotiations between South Sudan’s SPLM and Khartoum’s National Congress Party (NCP). Most of the oil wealth of the two countries lies in the border areas.
Concordis has offices in Khartoum and Juba "and so had been able to work closely on both sides at the border and undertake complementary activities”, Gardner said. She said her NGO tries to work impartially with all sides.
"We are not here to side with one [side] but just to talk with people and bring them together, facilitate their discussions and their relations so that they can do so many peaceful dialogues among themselves."
Malual Manyiel Ayuel a paramount chief of Parieng County of Unity state, said that not having a clearly defined border makes promoting peace challenging as people do not know who owns what land. He said that groups from South Kordofan claim land, which is also claimed by communities in Unity state.
Demarcating the border, Ayuel added would make administration and governance of the border easier to manage. He asked for international assistance to demarcate the ill-defined border, a relic left by Sudan’s colonial ruler Britain when the country gained independence in 1956.
Ayuel accused the Misseriya - an Arab cattle herding tribe based in South Kordofan - of disturbing people crossing the border. The Misseriya are also involved the dispute over Abyei, a fertile oil region claimed by both countries.
As part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement Abyei was due to vote on whether to join South Sudan or remain north of the border. The vote did not go ahead as South Sudan refused to let the Misseriya take part in the vote. The Dinka Ngok, a southern aligned tribe and residents of the area, should be the only participants, the SPLM said.
Before South Sudan’s independence, Khartoum imposed military rule in Abyei and deposed the civilian administration. A new UN force from Ethiopia is now deploying to oversee SAF’s withdrawal from the area.
Joseph Madak Both Wuol Director general of policy, Research and Monitoring office at South Sudan’s presidency said, that the border should be demarcated with the help of the international community.
He added that demarcating the border as well as state, county and ethnic boundaries was a priority of his government. Wuol pointed out that the president of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit has appointed his deputy Riek Machar to oversee the process which he said was important to South Sudan’s communities.
Woul added: “Now the new government is formed, they will continue working very hard to push this exercise seriously”.
(ST)
Latest Comments & Analysis
South Sudan after Paanthou crisis 2012-05-14 01:35:00 By Steve Paterno May 13, 2012 — Diplomatically, when the Paanthou crisis occurred, South Sudan found itself unprepared and underrepresented in the diplomatic front. The diplomatic ferocity of its (...)
Sudan and South Sudan: Where are they heading? 2012-05-12 05:59:20 By Luka Biong Deng May 11, 2012 — When the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, the Sudanese and the international community were relieved as Sudan would be put on the path of (...)
Khartoum and the language of war: Who’s really listening? 2012-05-12 05:31:52 By Eric Reeves May 11, 2012 — Every day it becomes clearer that unless Juba buckles before Khartoum's extortionate demands, on a range of issues, then the regime will settle matters (...)
MORE