The road connecting South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and Sudan’s West Kordofan reopened

After nearly five months of closure due to insecurity between the Misseriya tribesmen and the Dinka Malual, the Meiram-Aweil commercial road connecting South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and Sudan’s West Kordofan reopened last week.

A group of armed Misseriya from Sudan’s Meiram reportedly attacked a village in Yinh Pabol in early January, killing 24 people, including women and children.

The incident compelled the government of Northern Bah el Ghazal to suspend all commercial activities on the road.

State Information Minister William Anyuon Kuol explained on Sunday that normal traffic on the highway has resumed. He claimed that the decision was made by his government and officials in Western Kordofan State.

“What happened was that governments accepted responsibility. “The road was reopened on Friday by the governments of South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Sudan’s Western Kordofan State,” Anyuon said.

“Governments are now taking control, and if a problem arises, governments are the ones to solve it,” Anyuon added.

The Dinka Malual paramount chief, Peter Makuach Makuach Kuol, has welcomed the reopening of the trade route, saying that both communities have witnessed what has happened in the past and have agreed to normalize relations.

“We, the citizens of Dinka Malual and Messiriya, have all been following the events, and we have accepted normalization of relations because we are the leaders of the Dinka Malual and Misseriya communities,” Makuach said.

Messiriya chiefs’ representative, Hamada Saad al-Bushra, called for peace between the bordering communities.

“We require peace between us and between countries.” “A problem solver is not our type; we need someone who supports the interests of both countries and communities, not his own,” Hamada said.