Matik Kueth
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The talk on how and when to reclaim South Sudan’s disputed territories came up during the third day of the governors’ forum in Juba yesterday, with leaders expressing contrasting opinions over the matter.
The First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, had proposed the establishment of an administration in the Ilemi Triangle—bordering with northern parts of Kenya—emphasizing that the area is part of South Sudan.
Machar noted that South Sudan would deploy unified forces and police in the Ilemi Triangle after graduation.
“Ilemi Triangle is South Sudan. There are three lines that the British took from the original first line: South Sudan. There were other two lines made to grant Turkana grazing rights, but South Sudan was in them,” he said.
“Currently, there are SPLA-IO [forces] in Kangateng and Kalarob. So, it is South Sudan. But we need to have an administration there. We need to have forces; we need to have police and all those communities there. We have neglected it. But I hope with the graduation of the unified forces and police to that area,” he added.
But Minister of Information, Communication, Technology, and Postal Services, Michael Makuei, cautioned that the Ilemi Triangle is a disputed area with a lot of issues that will not be solved easily. Makuei instead argued that South Sudanese should be focusing on sorting out their internal conflict before finding a solution to the disputed border.
“Ilemi is a disputed area. Yes, in the first place, it was ours, but now it is not ours; it is a disputed area. Just like the dispute with Sudan now. We have disputes with the North because we did not know what the borders were by then. But because of politics, we have politicised everything, and as such, the Sudanese government is claiming some areas that did not even belong to them before,” he said.
“You go to central and western Equatoria; we have a lot of disputes along the borders. But we are not to talk about this now because we have to address our internal problems before we look for others,” he stated.
The Ilemi Triangle, sometimes called only Ilemi, is a disputed area in East Africa. It measures about 11,000 square kilometers [4,200 square meter]. According to Wikipedia, the term “Ilemi” may more accurately be transcribed as “Elemi” in the Didinga language, signifying acceptance. This suggests that in Didinga history, the region became favourable when they arrived, evidenced by the thriving health of the cattle that accepted the local vegetation, indicating a symbiotic relationship between the cattle’s well-being and the area.
The territory is claimed by South Sudan and Kenya. The territory also borders Ethiopia. Despite use and trespass into the triangle by border tribes from Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government has not made any official claim on the area, instead agreed that the land was Sudanese territory in the 1902, 1907, and 1972 treaties.
Kenya now has de-facto control of all the territory in the Ilemi Triangle up to the northern 1950 Sudanese Patrol Line. The dispute arose from the 1914 treaty in which a straight parallel line was used to divide territories that were both part of the British Empire. However the Turkana people who are nomadic herders continued to move to and from the border and traditionally grazed in the area.
The perceived economic marginality of the land as well as decades of Sudanese conflicts are two factors that have delayed the resolution of the dispute.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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