S. Sudan accuses Uganda of moving international border

Officials in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria state have called for investigations into allegations that Ugandan authorities have unilaterally moved their shared border, fueling land disputes and insecurity.

 

South Sudan says that Global Positioning System satellite coordinates defining the border were ’abruptly’ changed giving Uganda more land.

 

After a joint meeting held between Magwi county of Eastern Equatoria state and Lamwo district in the northern part of Uganda over the weekend, Peter Bongomin, the Magwi county commissioner resolved that the changes should be investigated. However, Omwony Ogaba, the resident district commissioner for Lamwo district who led the Ugandan team did sign the agreement.

 

’The abrupt change of the GPS international border line reading between South Sudan and Uganda must be investigated jointly by both the governments of South Sudan and that of Uganda,’ one of the resolutions states.

 

Officials from South Sudan’s Magwi county told the meeting that the presence of the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) in the area was causing tension and fear among communities in the county.

 

At the Saturday meeting, John Bosco Obina, a youth leader from Magwi county told Sudan Tribune, that the commissioner had asked the Ugandan army to withdraw from the area. The UPDF had entered in pursuit of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group but they are “no longer in the area,” Obina said.

 

In the joint communiqué seen by Sudan Tribune, only the Magwi county commissioner signed the document, while his Ugandan counterpart reportedly declined. It remains unclear as to why the Lamwo district commissioner refused to acknowledge resolutions of the meeting.

 

In mid-July this year, Ugandan authorities arrested and detained three Sudanese nationals in the West Nile district of Moyo over a border land dispute. The disputed territory is about 8km in length and 2.5km wide.

 

The meeting also discussed unauthorised road construction, land distribution procedures, illegal timbers lumbering, and effective government control of the border regions.