August 23, 2022 (JUBA) – Sudan has accepted South Sudan’s proposal to engage in direct talks to resolve its border row with Ethiopia, an official said.

Speaking to Sudan Tribune on Tuesday, South Sudan’s presidential advisor on security affairs, Tut Gatluak Manime said Khartoum’s acceptance of Juba’s proposal will promote regional peace and security.

He reiterated President Salva Kiir’s commitment to peace and stability in the region.

“I came to deliver a special message of his Excellency the president of the Republic of South Sudan, General Salva Kiir Mayardit. He has invited Gen Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan to come to Juba and witness to the graduation of the first unified forces undergoing training in various cantonment sites in Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Equatoria regions”, explained Manime.

He said preparations for the graduation of forces have been completed.

“Food items, medicines and military uniforms have been delivered”, he said.

Sudan and Uganda are the guarantors of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement on the resolution of the conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.

Sudan also chairs the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc that mediated the deal that ended South Sudan’s civil war.

According to the presidential advisor, participation of Sudan and Uganda in the graduation of forces will demonstrate the guarantor’s commitment to continue supporting the implementation of the revitalised peace deal.

He further disclosed that both Sudan and Ethiopia agreed in principle to end their differences through peaceful dialogue instead of military means.

On July 5, the Chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council and the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed agreed to form a joint committee to end the border dispute between the two countries.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of an IGAD summit in Nairobi, Kenya, barely two months after the murder of seven Sudanese troops and the Sudanese attack on the remaining Ethiopian troops in the border strip.

The border crossing is vital for trade between the two countries, and the main crossing for hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian workers to Sudan.