A team of military officials from Uganda and South Sudan have today joined the joint re-demarcation of the two countries’ common border in Moyo district.
Sources told the EagleOnline that Uganda’s military team to oversee the re-demarcation exercise expected to end on February 12 is led by the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) Chief of Military Intelligence Brigadier Charles Bakahumura and the Army Spokesperson Lt Col Paddy Ankunda.
The political emissaries are led by Uganda’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Henry Okello Oryem and the South Sudan Minister for Foreign Affairs Benjamin Barnaba Marial.
Last year in December, Uganda and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to ease border tension and pave the way for the re-demarcation exercise which started on February 8.
And, available information indicates the two countries carried out sensitization campaigns for their respective citizenry in Uganda and Nimule, South Sudan. The re-demarcation follows a directive by the AU in 2011, for both countries to resolve their border differences by 2017.
There have been sporadic attacks carried out by South Sudanese against Ugandans staying near the border, with the last attack carried out late last year.
Tension at the disputed border area has been going on for decades now, even before South Sudan seceded from the Sudan in 2011. At the time the Sudan government under President Omar Bashir would occasionally drop provocative bombs in Moyo, prompting retaliatory threats from Uganda and also creating an aura of panic among the residents staying near the border.
