South Sudan’s foreign minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin called for implementation of the Joint Cooperation Agreement and opening of common borders with Sudan.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuj available on our regular broadcast, Marial said South Sudan incurred heavy economic losses due to the closure of international the two countries’ shared border.
Marial said his country is the biggest market for Sudanese products, noting that the border closure forced South Sudan to rely on East African imports instead.
“South Sudan was the biggest market for Sudanese traders, so we have lost a lot due to the closure of borders, leave alone social losses because we are one people,” he said.
He pointed to historic relations between the two peoples of Sudan and South Sudan, and called on the two governments to encourage peace and open the common borders between the two Sudans.
Marial stressed the need to operationalize the agreement on four freedoms for the interest of the two countries.
Last week, Sudan’s State Minister of Foreign Ministry, Kamal al-Din Ismail, announced that Khartoum lost 7 billion dollars due to the closure of borders with South Sudan.