South Sudan & Sudan: agree to cease immediately any support or harboring of rebel groups.

The Joint Security Committee meeting between South Sudan and Sudan has resolved to build trust between the two nations.

A statement released by the Ethiopian Department  of Foreign Affairs, said the “two sides had agreed  to cease immediately any support or harboring of rebel groups from either sides, and to prevent rebels or support for them from crossing the common border. They had also agreed to stop any travel documents being issued to members of rebel groups, and refrain from harboring elements that threaten the security of either country.”

“The meeting actually was a discussion of allegation and counter allegation that had been rise to the media between the two counties, and specially the support to rebels of one another across the border,” The SPLA spokesperson Colonel Philip Aguer told Eye Radio. “This is a confidence building process; you can take the success from that perspective, that this is confidence building. The fact that people can meet directly without any mediation is success by itself. One of the resolutions is that they will be visiting the borders, to see how to supervise some of the issues. The two committees have agreed to conduct a field visit.”

The statement also said that Sudan and South Sudan had agreed, for the first time, to form a joint team to investigate any breaches of the agreements signed between the two countries, and decided on the procedures and terms of reference for the work of this operational team.

The meeting was co-chaired by the heads of the National Intelligence and Security Services of the two countries.