Central African Republic–South Sudan border

Following the water-parting

An Anglo-French declaration of 21 March 1899 said the frontier between the French and British spheres should follow, in principle, the water-parting between the Nile and the Congo. An Anglo-French commission surveyed it from 1921 to 1923, using triangulation in the north and, in the dense woodland of the southern 300 miles, compass and perambulator traverses checked against star sightings and radio time signals.^[1]

The protocol ratified in January 1924 traced the line beacon by beacon from a 5-metre heap of stones at the meeting point with the Belgian Congo, keeping always to the divide between the two basins. The boundary was never marked with its own pillars. Sudan inherited it in 1956 and the Central African Republic in 1960.^[1]

“From this point the frontier follows the water-parting between the basin of the Nile and that of the Congo…”^[1]

Refugees and returns

During Sudan’s long civil war, refugees from the south crossed into the Central African Republic, up to 36,000 at the peak in the early 1990s. Most settled around the village of Mboki in the remote south-east, where a camp was established in 1990.^[2]

After the 2005 peace agreement, the CAR, Sudan and UNHCR signed a repatriation agreement in February 2006, and the first 50 refugees flew home to Tambura in Western Equatoria. Flights were suspended for most of 2006 while the border was officially closed. When the last flight left in April 2007, almost 9,700 returns had been assisted. South Sudan became independent in 2011, and the old line became its border with the CAR.^[3][2]