Machar recommends revival of 2012’s cooperation agreement with Sudan

JUBA – South Sudan’s First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny recommended in a governance cluster meeting on Tuesday the revival of the country’s 2012 Cooperation Agreement that was signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with Sudan.

The Cooperation Agreement was signed under the auspices of former Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalenge in Addis Ababa following the 2012 Panthoara (Heglig) crisis in which South Sudan briefly captured Panthoara following repeated attack by Sudanese armed forces on Bentiu.

The agreement culminated into what would become the four freedoms:  freedom of residence, freedom of movement, freedom to undertake economic activity and freedom to acquire and dispose property.

In a statement, Machar’s office said the recommendation was made following today’s meeting of the governance cluster which was chaired by Machar.

“The Governance Cluster meeting chaired by the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, on Tuesday, 1 September, 2020, recommended the revival of implementation of the Cooperation Agreements between South Sudan and Sudan,” the statement by Machar’s office partly reads.

The Cooperation Agreements signed in 2012 addressed security, trade and border issues, among others, between the two countries.

The statement added that because there is peace in South Sudan coupled with the Monday peace deal between Sudan and Sudanese rebels, it was “time that the two countries revived their Cooperation Agreements.”

“Concerned line ministries in South Sudan will therefore be directed to operationalize with their Sudanese counter-parts relevant matters pertaining to the Agreements.”