Sudan, South Sudan agree to demilitarize their common border

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Thursday 15 Oct 2015 - 13:12 Makkah mean time-2-1-1437 Pic: Anadolu Agency Addis Ababa (IINA) – Sudan and South Sudan on Wednesday signed a deal to implement an earlier agreement to demilitarize their common border, after more than two years of negotiations, Anadolu Agency reported. The establishment of a Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (SDBZ) was first agreed in a deal signed on 27 September 2012. However, its implementation was delayed due to disagreements on security issues. According to the deal, the SDBZ will be monitored by a Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism (JBVMM). The two sides accepted a map of the SDBZ as presented to them by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel. “The agreement will open up the door for cooperation between the two countries,” Sudanese Defense Minister Awad Ibn Auf said after signing the deal at an extraordinary meeting held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. For his part, South Sudanese Defense Minister Kual Manyang said implementation of the SDBZ would enable the two states to “…make use of our resources for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries”. UN Special Envoy to the African Union Haile Menkerios, who witnessed the signing of the agreement, congratulated the signatories, saying: “Now you can expect support from the UN Security Council in implementing the agreement.” Former Nigerian president Abduselam Abubaker, who presided over the signing ceremony, told Anadolu Agency that the absence of a security agreement had remained a major shortcoming in the peace process between the two countries, adding: “Now we have this…it will be a jumpstart”. AB/IINA