Sudan, South Sudan discuss border zone

The Sudanese and South Sudanese Defence Ministers met in the Ethiopian capital today to make decisions on the countries’ Joint Political and Security Mechanism and the demilitarised border zone.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union has eagerly awaited the extraordinary meeting of the Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSM). In August this year, it demanded the governments of the Sudans to hold such a meeting with the support of the African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), in order to establish peaceful and cooperative relations between the countries.

The Sudanese Minister of Defence, General Ahmed Awad Bin Auf, and his South Sudanese counterpart Lieutenant-General Kuol Manyang Juuk agreed that both sides may raise any concern on any point along the centreline of the safe demilitarised border zone (SDBZ).

The centreline, however, should not affect the current administrative arrangements obtained in any area alongside the demilitarised zone, their released decision paper reads.

The JPSM seeks to promote political and security cooperation between the two countries and held its first meeting on 18 September 2011.

The extraordinary meeting in Addis Ababa on Wednesday also clarified that the safe demilitarised zone and its centreline do not have any bearing on the final location of the boundary between Sudan and South Sudan. It only represents the location of the separation line between the armed forces of the two states.

Awad Ibn Auf and Manyang Juuk agreed to activate all the mechanisms that are related to the JPSM and the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism in particular, in coordination with the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA).

The Ministers deferred the discussion on a UNISFA report they received during the meeting, on the status of the demilitarised zone and the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism, to their next session. This is scheduled to take place on 16 November in Khartoum.