South Sudan, Uganda in border dilemma
Ugandan police arrested three South Sudanese citizens last month for allegedly cultivating 300 hectares of land near the village of Abaya, about 12 km inside the Ugandan border.
Edward Kala, a tractor driver, Simon Jangara, his employee, and Moses Mano, a herdsman, were detained in the village of Wano and later released after the intervention of the district chief. This sparked outrage from local residents, who threatened to stage demonstrations if the issue is not resolved.
“We need to keep this relationship.”
At the heart of the dispute is the difference between customary boundaries, which are not legally recognised, and international borders, which date back to British colonial rule.
Police investigations revealed that South Sudanese rebels had used the disputed land as a training base in the 1950s during a revolt against the Khartoum government, and had regarded it as part of southern Sudan ever since.
Kajo Keji view - Photo: Diocese of Bethlehem
In conversations with people on both sides of the Ugandan border, the dispute is testing the limits of patriotism, friendship and neighbourly relations.
Moyo, a Ugandan town about eight km from the border with South Sudan, is Kajo Keji’s closest link with the rest of the continent. The roads to Juba are inaccessible during the rainy season due to flooding rivers, so many travelers pass through Moyo on their way to the main route to the South Sudanese capital, about eight hours away.
“We cannot allow our land to be taken.”
Kajo Keji’s County Commissioner, Muki Batali Buli, said the two communities have friendly cross-border relations that need not to be tainted by the land dispute. “Our people cross to Uganda for services that we don’t have here, and (Ugandans) come here for trade, so we need to keep this relationship,” Muki said.
He added that his county still uses Ugandan shillings because there is no bank or practical linkage for commerce with the rest of South Sudan, which has recently issued a new currency, the South Sudanese pound.
Hundreds of Ugandans from Moyo have come to the Kajo-Keji seeking work and trade opportunities, while Kajo Keji relies on Moyo for commerce and services, which are lacking.
“The best way our government can sort out this problem is through dialogue.”
While Moyo district Chief Vukoni Jimmy Okudi appears to share Commissioner Batali’s aim to maintain a soft border, the patience of local residents seems to have waned.
“We cannot allow our land to be taken,” said Anjoyo Norah, a Ugandan university student in Moyo. “There is great pressure to go protest, but I feel bad about hurting my friends from (South) Sudan.”
The planned demonstration was canceled, but the tension has remained.
Wani Emmanuel, a teacher in Kajo Keji who was once a war refugee in Moyo, said the two governments should resolve the border issue without unrest. “I think the best way our government can sort out this problem is through dialogue, not protest,” he said.
The border dispute marks a fault line between citizens’ sense of patriotism and friendship, since people on both sides have historically maintained good relations.
