The Acholi communities in Eastern Equatoria State’s Magwi County in South Sudan and Lamwo District of Uganda on Friday agreed to peaceful coexistence and cooperation of security forces along the common border.
David Otim Okot, the Chairperson of the Acholi Community in South Sudan, told Radio Tamazuj that the leaders of the two neighboring communities have been having some border issues and agreed to resolve the matters through local mechanisms to spur trade and free movement of people.
“We have been having some tensions between the two sisterly communities of Acholi in South Sudan and Uganda and it has been in the interest of the two sisterly communities, especially the local leadership, that we must harmonize these unnecessary conflicts because we are one people that were divided by artificial colonial boundaries,” he said.
Otim said the Acholi leaders met in Palabek Town in Lamwo District in Uganda earlier this week and resolved some of the miscommunications, established a line of communication, and agreed on cooperation between the security forces of both countries.
“In the meeting in Palabek, we received a report provided by the Uganda People`s Defense Forces Division Commander in the area that there have been a lot of clashes across our border areas,” he said. “These are issues beyond the community and we decided as local community leaders to refer it to the sisterly security forces from both countries and said they should have a collaborative network. This will help in dealing with some criminal elements across the border amicably.”
Otim added: “We agreed that our governments must expedite the verification and demarcation of the border to reduce some of these tensions that we are having and so that everybody must know where the border is so that we have harmony.”
He also said that they urged the Government of South Sudan to fix the impassable roads in Magwi County and four bridges that have broken down to facilitate the free movement of goods and services along the border.
“We also agreed that we should meet again in February as part of a confidence-building mechanism to discuss other issues and follow up on what has been agreed,” he stated.
The meeting was attended by parliamentarians local chiefs and prominent elders from both countries and was graced by Uganda`s Presidential Advisor on Military Affairs, Gen. Salim Saleh.