Juba makes plans to send an official letter to the Sudanese government with a request to officially arrange the stay of Northeners living in South Sudan. The letter will specifically address the issue of Arab nomads entering South Sudan with their cattle.
Atem Garang, chief of the National Legislative Assembly of South Sudan, said the parliament is calling on the South Sudanese government to treat the Arab nomads according to the South Sudanese migration laws.
Sources told radio Tamazuj Juba will discuss the issue in a Ministry Council meeting today to prepare a deadline for Khartoum.
The government should not continue to allow Arab nomads who are not carrying their official documents, according to Garang.
The South Sudanese minister of Information, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said that his government is ready to issue official documents to Southeners living in Sudan: ‘but what will Khartoum do with more than two million Sudanese citizens who crossed the borders and do not have official identification documents?’
An estimated amount of 500,000 Southeners live in Sudan. The issue of Southernes living in Sudan and vice versa has been widely debated by the governments from both states the past weeks.