Sudan Agrees To Open 10 Barricaded Trade Routes Representatives of the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan concluded positively the inaugural meeting of the Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSM) in the Sudan’s capital Khartoum. The two sides agreed to allow free passage across 10 borders between the two Countries to ease communication. 26 September 2011 Sudan Agrees To Open 10 Barricaded Trade Routes Thabo Mbeki stands between S. Sudan's John Kong (L) and Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein in Khartoum during the first JPSM meeting [©Getty Images]
By James Deng Dimo WAU, 26th September, 2011 [Gurtong] - Representatives of the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan concluded positively the inaugural meeting of the Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSM) in the Sudan’s capital Khartoum. The two sides agreed to allow free passage across 10 borders between the two Countries to ease communication. Speaking during the meeting, the two sides agreed to open 10 border crossings, to facilitate the movement of people and communication between the people of the two Countries, Sudan’s Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein said, after signing the accord with John Kong, his Counterpart from South Sudan. This comes despite both sides accusing each other of militarily supporting rebel movements, and failure to reach an agreement on the crucial oil regions. North and South Sudan have not yet demarcated their border- especially in the oil rich Abyei region which appeared to be claimed by both sides. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki who heads the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), mediated the agreement signed in Khartoum on Sunday 18th September 2011. The Joint Political Security Meeting was established as a mechanism by the two States to cooperate on security and political issues, particularly in relation to their common borders. This first meeting was convened jointly by Sudanese Defence Minister, Lt. Gen Abdulrahim Mohammed Hussein and his South Sudanese counterpart, Gen John Kong Nyuon, Minister for Defence and Veteran’s Affairs. The second meeting will be conducted on 18th October 2011 in the South Sudanese capital Juba. Last week, the government of the Republic of South Sudan accused the Khartoum government of draining her economy by barricading essential trade routes and also through cargo embargo for more than five months. The Sudanese government in turn accuses South Sudan of fuelling conflict in the border regions of South Kordofan and the recent army offensive in Blue Nile which the South Sudanese authorities confirmed to be baseless. At the request of the two Co-Chairs of the JPSM, Thabo Mbeki chaired the meeting, which was also attended by H.E Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, member of AUHIP, as well as the Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, Lt Gen. Tadesse Tesfa. The meeting received and discussed a report from Gen Tesfay and also adopted the texts of five previous agreements and documents as reference instruments of the JPSM. The Sunday 18th September 2011 meeting also took steps to make the JPSM operational by agreeing on the composition of several committees and location of various bodies established under previous agreements. Posted in: Home, Foreign Relations -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
