Hmmm

3 of the North places are also South, 2 of the South places are also North.
This is not the only solution

I like the North / South thing, but it needed some "oh of course" moment. I was thinking it was countries and regions, or something like that.

Agree with other comments, too many north and South are interchangeable

Yes I agree, too many interchangeable north and south places.

Ireland is specifically Northern or Southern not North and South .. all of the rest of that group can be either North or South. Only one in the other group (Sudan) can’t fit both North and South - so just a permutations game with multiple valid solutions …. Quite a long way short of a cigar for this grid