Sudan and South Sudan agreed on 27 September to form a monitoring mission and demilitarized zone along their common border. The Agreement on Security Arrangements was signed by the ministers of defense Abdulrahman Mohamed Hussein and John Kong Nyuon. The agreement was part of a package of deals negotiated in Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia under the mediation of the African Union.

Excerpt: “The Parties shall immediately operationalize the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mission (JBVMM) and the Safe Demilitarized Border Zone… The Parties agree that the SDBZ will be operationalized in accordance with the administrative and security map presented to the parties by the AUHIP [African Union High Implementation Panel].”

Background: Both the monitoring and the demilitarization aim to reduce cross-border activity by proxy militias and reduce the possibility of major cross-border fighting such as occurred at the Heglig oil field in April this year. The concept of a border monitoring mission is built on earlier agreements including a deal on Abyei signed in June 2011. That deal created a Joint Military Observer Committee to be chaired by the Ethiopian commander of the UN Mission that later deployed to the disputed region.

Implications: AU mediators will expect each side to immediately order its forces to pull back from the border. The armed forces are expected to relay information on their withdrawals to the monitoring mission (JBVMM). The monitors will take up headquarters in Asosa, Ethiopia. After the withdrawals, neither party is supposed to move military forces or armed civilians within the demilitarized area.

Not to be confused... The Agreement on Security Arrangements is not a resolution of the final status of the north-south boundary, which is disputed at many points. The deal only establishes a temporary security line and not a final political boundary.