Sudan, South Sudan ready to reopen borders
The chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has hinted at the readiness for the reopening of the South Sudan-Sudan borders.
Sources reveal that Burhan met with the presidential Advisor, Dr Costello Garang Ring, in Khartoum, where he demonstrated the willingness to open the borders.
Dr Ring had travelled to Khartoum to deliver President Salva Kiir’s message for the reopening of the border between the two countries.
Also, the deputy chairman of the Sudan Transitional Sovereign Council, Mohammed Hamdan Dagallo, visited Juba and held talks with President Kiir on the issues of peace and security between South Sudan and Sudan.
Dagallo was invited by Kiir to attend the meeting of the presidency, in which they discussed peace and security as a prerequisite for the reopening of the borders.
Dr Costello told President Kiir on Monday that Burhan was pleased with the president’s message and was willing to reopen the border.
“Gen. Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan reacted positively on the message and said the borders are to be reopened between the two countries,” said Dr Costello, according to the presidential press unit.
He said the two countries were ready to jumpstart the railway construction and that preliminary procedures had begun, including the forming of committees to oversee the construction process from River Kiir to Wau.
“Dr Costello Garang Ring said while he was on a mission in Sudan, he met with the Minister of Transport and the leadership of Sudan Railway Corporation and they have started to form committees from both sides of the two countries to start the reconstruction process of the railway line this year from River Kiir to Wau,” the statement read in part.
He concluded that the committee was set to visit Wau as they drive “along the railway” from Wau to River Kiir purposely to assess the technical conditions of railway facilities.
Coup obstruction
Sudan closed its borders in 2012, a year after the secession of South Sudan in July 2011.
In August 2021, President Salva Kiir agreed with the Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok to re-open four border points of Jebeleen in Renk, Meiram, Buram-Tumsah, and Kharsana in Panakuac on October 1, 2021, but continued unrest and coup plots interrupted this agreement.
In October last year, a government official said the reopening of the border, which was slated to take place on October 1, 2021, was interrupted by the political instability in Sudan. The reopening of the border was considered as a remedy to the skyrocketing commodity prices.
However, the situation at the border has been volatile, leading to lengthened actualisation of the border opening.
“It made it impossible for the governments of South Sudan and Sudan to send their delegations to the borders to witness the reopening ceremony, especially after five security personnel from Sudan were ambushed and killed near one of the borders,” the official said.
On October 01, 2021, trucks had already crossed to Bentiu, Unity State. The Unity State Minister of Information and Communication, Gabriel Hon Makuei, confirmed the arrival of trucks transporting commodities and humanitarian aid.
“We heard about [it] and we are aware of the goods coming but as the government of Unity State we have not been informed officially on the issue of reopening of the border points,” he said.
“Police immigration officers are on the border points on our side and people have been crossing the border between South Sudan to Sudan,” he added.
However, the Director-General in the Ministry of Information and Communication in Unity State, Deng Muon, said they had not received official communication for the reopening of the borders.
