A long-simmering feud between Uganda and South Sudan is expected to end after both countries agreed on a blueprint for redrawing their common border.

A joint technical committee from the two countries on Friday concluded a three-day meeting for the “delimitation and demarcation” of the border in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The process is to be facilitated and overseen by the African Union (AU), the 55-member continental body.

During the meeting, the technical, logistical and security requirements of delineating the 470 kilometre border were discussed, according to Margaret Kafeero, the head of public diplomacy in Uganda’s ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The African Union Border Programme experts provided technical expertise and in-depth consultations and best-practice information for both delegations,” said Kafeero.

The blueprint includes expediting the acquisition of documents like certified colonial maps from the United Kingdom, carrying out continuous sensitisation of border communities, commencing demarcation of the hotspots once funds are available, and urging respective governments to expeditiously open border access roads to facilitate demarcation, the East African reported on Sunday.

Troubled South Sudan has had several run-ins with Uganda over ownership of some border areas in the West Nile, specifically in the districts of Moyo and Lamwo.

The border problems started when the British colonised both Uganda and Sudan in 1914, drawing up the first border between the countries.

The authorities in South Sudan’s Central Equatorial Province regularly accuse Ugandan farmers of encroaching on their land but the Ugandan authorities claim the contested land belongs to Uganda.

The border dispute has also involved armed men from South Sudan periodically crossing over into Uganda where they have been involved in acts of terror and destruction of property.

Efforts to re-demarcate the border, under the auspices of the AU, have been ongoing for a while.

However, no date for the delineation has been set because the budget for such an exercise is under the control of the AU and the plan has to be further scrutinised.