South Sudanese refugees wait at a border gate in Joda, in the Jableen locality in Sudan’s White Nile State, after arriving from the South Sudanese war zones of Malakal and al-Rank, January 16, 2014. (Photo Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

The JBC has held its sixth meeting in Addis Ababa from 26 to 29 September under the auspices of the African Union.

The Sudanese side was headed by the State Minister at the Presidency and JBC Co-chair Al-Rasheed Haroun while the South Sudanese side was chaired by the Minister of Information and JBC Co-chair Michael Makuei.

Sudan’s official news agency SUNA said the JBC on Thursday has endorsed a number of documents including the list of procedural provisions of the JBC, list of the terms of reference of the joint technical team, the border line demarcation budget and work plan and the report of the outcome of the sixth meeting.

According to SUNA, the JBC decided to hold its seventh meeting in Addis Ababa in November.

Claimed and disputed areas of the Sudan and South Sudan border include Abyei, 14-Mile area, Joudat Al-Fakhar, Jebel al-Migainais, Kaka, and Kafia Kingi enclave (Hofrat al-Nahas).

Since South Sudan’s independence the agreed border between the two countries is not yet demarcated (marked on the ground). Also, talks between the two sides continue to delimit the remaining 20% disputed boundary.

In September 2012, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, border trade among others.

In March 2013, the two countries signed an implementation matrix for these cooperation agreements. However, the execution of the agreements didn’t go according to the plan.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan on July 9th 2011 following a referendum on whether the semi-autonomous region should remain a part of the country or become independent. 99% of the southern voters chose independence.

Relations between the two nations soured after South Sudan’s independence following a series of disputes over a number of issues.