![Director General of the Nationality and Passports at the ministry of interior, Gen. Atem Marol Bair speaks at a press conference in Juba on July 29, 2021 [Photo by Awan Achiek/Sudans Post]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Atem.jpg?ssl=1)
General Marol told reporters during a press conference in Juba yesterday that the training will prepare the immigration for reopening of borders between Sudan and Sudan slated for October 1 for the first time in 11 years.
“We are preparing now for reopening of borders between Sudan and South Sudan in October. We went to Khartoum recently to attend the training conducted by the IOM and the same training will also be conducted this month in South Sudan,” Marol said.
Sudan’s reformist Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, and South Sudan President Salva Kiir said in a joint statement last month that their borders will be opened at four crossings to allow free movement of goods and people.
During Omar Bashir’s regime, South Sudan and Sudan closed much of the 2,000 borders-hitting traders and communities on both sides of the disputed line.
The borders were closed in 2011 when relations deteriorated after the south seceded following a long civil war, taking with it three quarters of the country’s oil.
However, in January 2016, former President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan ordered the opening of his country’s border with South Sudan but this did not last.
The formal opening of borders will restore direct road transport between the north and the south for the first time in over a decade.
A senior police officer disclosed that Hamdok and Kiir also agreed on the use of travel documents in two countries.
“This will help those who may not afford passport to travel to Sudan or South Sudan. The travel document is cheaper than the passport and it can be issued within one minute,” he said.
He revealed that the Sudanese Minister of Interior has already issued ministerial order which allows South Sudanese to use travel documents when traveling to Sudan.
