Juba to Withdraw Forces from Buffer Zone

{{South Sudan’s army has pledged to withdraw its forces from the demilitarized buffer zone it has agreed to establish along its tense border with Sudan, following the first sitting of a joint security committee on Monday in the Southern capital, Juba.}}

Military delegations from Sudan and South Sudan discuss in Juba ways to implement security arrangements, agreed on 27 September in Addis Ababa, among reports about South Sudanese refusal to implement the dispositions allowing to disengage between Juba and the Sudanese rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

John Kong Nyuon, South Sudan’s Defence Minister told the press on Tuesday that the armies of both countries were “ready” to remove their troops 10km either side of a temporary borderline proposed by the African Union to establish the demilitarised zone.

The South Sudanese army (SPLA) “are ready to pull back 10km south from their current positions in areas which have been identified as buffer zones so that they are demilitarized as required in the agreement. The Sudanese armed forces will do the same,” Nyuon said.