Sudan Rushes Demarcating Territorial, Internal Borders

Sudanese demonstrators protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 14, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bekta
Sudanese demonstrators protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 14, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bekta
TT
20

Sudan Rushes Demarcating Territorial, Internal Borders

Sudanese demonstrators protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 14, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bekta
Sudanese demonstrators protest outside the Defence Ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 14, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bekta

Sudan’s transitional Sovereignty Council called on the national committee for border demarcation to define all regional borders for the African state. Meanwhile, a resolution for inner state borders was deferred due dispute over some areas.

Official spokesperson Mohammad Al-Faki Suleiman said that the Council had vowed to provide support needed by the commission to carry out its duties.

He pointed out that demarcating internal borders in the war-torn country is still tied to ongoing peace processes and talks held with armed factions. The distribution of national wealth among provinces remains a debate in discussion.

Faki said the council had stressed the need to control and regulate all maps showing the country’s borders and for the commission to issue an Atlas confirming were borders are set.
Most of Sudan's border with neighboring countries (Ethiopia, Libya, Central Africa, and Egypt), amounting to about 6,834 kilometers, remained undefined, except for Sudan's border with Chad, which was demarcated.

Sudan is in conflict with Egypt over the Halaib triangle in the far northeast, with Ethiopia over the Faqsha area, and with South Sudan over the Abyei area.

More so, Sudan and South Sudan are in dispute over five border areas that haven’t been demarcated since in 2011.

In October, the two countries signed an agreement on the matter.



Drone Strikes Target Army Celebration in Central Sudan, Say Witnesses

A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
TT
20

Drone Strikes Target Army Celebration in Central Sudan, Say Witnesses

A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

Drone strikes targeted the Sudanese town of Tamboul, southeast of the capital Khartoum, on Wednesday during a celebration organized by the army, two witnesses told AFP.

One Tamboul resident said chaos had erupted in the central square where "hundreds of people had gathered" for the ceremony as air defenses responded.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the strikes, the first in Al-Jazira state in months, and neither the army nor its RSF foes issued any comment.

Al-Jazira was Sudan's pre-war agricultural heartland, AFP reported.

It had been largely calm since the army recaptured it from the Rapid Support Forces in January in the same counteroffensive that saw it retake Khartoum in March.

According to the United Nations, around a million people have returned to their homes in Al-Jazira since January.

Wednesday's celebration in Tamboul was due to be attended by Abu Aqla Kaykal, the commander of the Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group currently aligned with the regular army which has been accused of atrocities while fighting on both sides of Sudan's devastating war.

His defection back to the army's side late last year helped pave the way for its gains of recent months.

Since it began in April 2023, the war between the regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.

The army now controls the centre, north and east of Sudan, while the RSF hold nearly all of the west and parts of the south.