Two governors of the former Northern Bahr al Ghazal State have resolved to block the migration of Somali and other nationalities through their territory to Sudan,
Thousands of citizens from the two states have been crossing to Sudan due to hunger, and the two governors have also discussed how to limit this movement, according to an official briefed on talks between the governors.
Aweil East State Governor Deng Deng Akuei and Ronald Ruay Deng of Aweil State held a closed door meeting in Aweil town about two weeks ago and agreed to stop foreigners from using their territories to go to Sudan, according to their ministers of information.
The decision came after unconfirmed reports that non-South Sudanese citizens, in particular Somalis, have been illegally using Northern Bahr El Ghazal as an exit route to Sudan.
The top government officials also discussed the exodus of their own citizens toward Sudan and they have agreed to allow only people who will be going for medications, business purposes and studies.
“Last week on Thursday the two governors, governor of Aweil East state and governor of Aweil state have held a meeting in Aweil town and they came up with two resolutions. One is the prevention of Somali citizens from going to North part crossing border from South Sudan to Sudan,” said Ayuel Yai Deng, the minister of information for Aweil East State.
“So Somalis are banned – they are not allow to go to North Sudan using Aweil general routes. Then the other one is also South Sudanese citizens are not allowed to go to North parts. So these are two resolutions that two state governors have taken,” he said.
Ayuel pointed out that security personnel at the borders will be notified about the decision saying they will be keen to thoroughly check people’s identification and travel documents.
Minister of information of Aweil State James Wieu confirmed the meeting of the two governors but said he did not have details as the meeting was done when he was in Juba on official duty.
“It was just a private meeting between two governors. So I could not get a resolution on what they discussed therefore I could not be able to elaborate on that,” Wieu said.
Northern Bahr al Ghazal State (shown in map above) has been divided into three successor states by presidential decree. The state shares a border with East Darfur and West Kordofan states of Sudan.