The African Union Border Programme (AUBP), through its technical team (AUBPTT), said it has completed the first phase of the marking exercise by marking three of the ten crossing points along the corridors of the Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (SDBZ) between the Republic of South Sudan and Sudan.
The program is in line with the directives issued by the African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) as well as the Joint Political and Security Mechanism (JPSM) on Sudan and South Sudan.
The AU body, in a statement seen by Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, the marking of the corridors signifies an important milestone in the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement between Sudan and South Sudan.
It further said the main objective of the marking exercise is to make a conclusive technical determination about where the SDBZ center-line is on the ground to enable the parties to withdraw their forces within the zone and to facilitate the free movement of people and formal trade between the two countries.
The Commission of the African Union expressed its appreciation and gratitude to the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan for their engagement, cooperation and support in facilitating the marking of the three crossing points along the corridors of the SDBZ.
The Commission wished to assure the two countries of AU’s commitment to assist them in marking the remaining border crossing points of the SDBZ.
The AUBP program was established as part of AU’s efforts to enhance capacities for structural conflict prevention in AU member states.