Africa

Africa

Sudan, South Sudan agree to immediately begin border demarcation

16 February 2012 23:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Sudan and South Sudan on Thursday agreed to immediately begin demarcation of their joint borders and to complete the work within three months, APA reports.

"It has been agreed during the Addis Ababa round of negotiations to directly begin on the border demarcation provided that the work is to complete within three months, if geographical and natural factors allow that," said Yahya Hussein, a member of Sudan government delegation to the Sudan-South Sudan negotiations, at a press conference here Thursday.

"The border committee is still continuing its work in Addis Ababa and we expect it to conclude today or tomorrow (Friday) morning. Many of the outstanding issues regarding the border demarcation have been resolved," he added.

The Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa has hosted the most recent round of negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan, which reviewed the two sides’ outstanding issues, namely the Abyei, border demarcation and the oil-sharing issues.

Sudan and South Sudan on Feb. 10 signed a security agreement to avoid armed conflicts between the two sides.

The agreement, reached under the African Union mediation in Addis Ababa, stipulated that each side should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the other, refrain from interfering in the other’s internal affairs, reject any use of force and observe common interests and peaceful coexistence.

Sudan and South Sudan share a joint border extending for about 1,200 km where armed clashes took place between the two sides on this borderline, namely at Blue Nile and the disputed Abyei areas.