Following a week of talks in Addis Ababa, on Tuesday March 13th Sudan and the South Sudan signed agreements on issues of nationalities and on demarcation of their boundaries. The framework agreement on nationality gives nationals of each state the right to enjoy “the four freedoms [namely] freedoms of residence, freedom of movement, freedom to undertake economic activity and freedom to acquire and dispose property". In other words, this provides citizens basic freedoms in each other’s nations. Citizens of the other state can live, work and own property on either side of the border and travel between the two nations. In order to follow up implementation of this agreement, the two parties have agreed to establish a standing Joint High Level Committee on the Status of Nationals of the Other State, comprising representatives of the ministries of internal affairs and other interested bodies. The parties also agreed to cooperate to provide the nationals of each state with appropriate identification and other relevant documents relating to their status, work and residence permits. The parties also agreed to the involvement of the AU’s High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to help convene the first meetings of the joint committee and also facilitate implementation of the agreement.

In the agreement on the demarcation of their common boundary the two parties are setting up a committee to demarcate the boundary in accordance with the physical description, delimitation and corresponding recommendations of the Technical Committee for Border Line Demarcation between North and South Sudan of January 1956. The parties said they agreed on the demarcation exercise in order to contribute to the maintenance of peaceful co-existence between the two states and both recognized the urgent necessity to demarcate their boundaries. A Joint Boundary Commission is to be established within two weeks to handle the demarcation process. This will manage and supervise the demarcation and maintenance of the boundary pillars and beacons. The Joint Demarcation Committee will also establish a Joint Technical Committee consisting of equal numbers of surveyors, cartographers and other appropriate experts and will develop a detailed plan to accomplish the demarcation process.

These agreements on two of the three most contentious issues between Sudan and South Sudan were signed by the chief negotiators, Idris Abdelkadir of Sudan and Pagun Amum of South Sudan in the presence of the co-chairs of AUHIP, Thabo Mbeki and Pierre Buyoya and of Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security. They will now be signed by President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan at a summit to be held in the South Sudan capital of Juba in the next week or two. The AUHIP chairmen are travelling to Khartoum and Juba to discuss the process. Before the summit the Joint Political and Security Mechanism is due to meet to discuss common concerns and challenges. This is the committee charged with monitoring the non-aggression pact signed earlier this year – both sides have accused the other of violating this accord. 

The early stages of the discussions last week were characterized by harsh words from both sides, but by Tuesday there was recognition of the need to change the approach and to work as partners rather than adversaries. This is, of course, vital for the co-existence of two states which complement each other so closely economically and socially. AUHIP played a determinant role in these successful sessions, and will continue its role in finalizing the remaining unresolved issues of which the most important is oil. The two sides still remain far apart on this bitter and costly dispute, and further talks have been postponed until after the forthcoming summit.  

Meanwhile, Kenya is taking a new regional diplomatic initiative to mediate the oil dispute between Sudan and South Sudan. President Mwai Kibaki launched the initiative following a request from President Salva Kiir during his recent visit to Nairobi to participate in the ground breaking ceremony at the site of the proposed Lamu port. Kenya’s Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, has visited Kampala where he met President Yoweri Museveni to seek Uganda’s support for this new IGAD initiative. Kenya’s Vice President, Kalonzo Musyoka, is shortly travelling to Khartoum, and Foreign Minister, Moses Wetangula is visiting Mogadishu, Addis Ababa and Djibouti on a similar mission.

Source: A Week in the Horn – March 16, 2012 issue

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