Scores of demonstrators in Sudan’s Jouda area of the White Nile State closed the Jouda border crossing blockading trucks carrying oil production chemicals and equipment to the Paloch area of South Sudan’s Upper Nile State.

The protesters have for the past two weeks closed the border crossing north of South Sudan’s Renk area demanding the provision of education and health services and the demarcation of the border between the two countries.

They also demanded the reopening of investigations of a case in which 200 citizens were killed two weeks after Sudan’s independence in 1956.

Abdullah Ibrahim, a spokesman for the protesters, said in a statement to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday that the goal of the demonstrations was to achieve legitimate demands.

“Our demands are the provision of education, health and electricity services, and the demarcation of borders to determine the eligibility of the disputed Dabh al Fakar area between the two countries of Sudan because we lost agricultural and residential land,” Ibrahim said.

He added that they will stop demonstrating when their demands are met.
 
For his part, Awo Daniel Chuang, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Petroleum in South Sudan, said the delay in the arrival of chemicals used in oil production by companies operating in the Paloch oil field will have a negative impact and that they are in talks with their Sudanese counterparts.

Efforts to reach authorities in Sudan’s White Nile State were futile.

On Thursday, the governments of Sudan and South Sudan agreed to open four border crossings in October, including the Jouda border point.

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By: Radio Tamazuj