21.06.11 Menas Borders
Sudan leaders agree to "full demilitarisation" of Abyei
Thabo Mbeki (L), South Sudan's Salva Kiir and Sudan's Omar Al-Bashir in April, 2011
Leaders from north and south Sudan signed an agreement pledging to end fighting
in the disputed border region of Abyei, on Monday 20th June.
The agreement was reached after days of mediation by former South African
president, Thabo Mbeki, in the Ethopian capital of Addis Ababa.
The deal requires both northern and southern troops to leave Abyei, to be
replaced by Ethiopian peacekeepers, in an agreement that Mbeki has said will
provide
for the "full demilitarisation" of Abyei.
Both north and South Sudan claim the oil-rich border region of Abyei, and
northern forces seized the town last month, causing over one hundred thousand
people
to flee, mostly to the south.
Violence in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan has also led to
60,000 people being displaced.
Some 4,000 Ethiopian troops are expected to be brought in after the Sudanese
army has left, although the UN will determine the exact troop numbers and their
mandate.
With South Sudan planning to declare independence on 9th July, 2011, Mbeki said
in his announcement of the deal, it was crucial that the peacekeepers were
brought in as soon as possible. He urged the UN Security Council to authorise their deployment without delay.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement and pledged “the full support of the United Nations to the parties in facilitating its
implementation.”
Ban also urged the two sides to resolve "all outstanding issues related to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and
post-secession arrangement, and to reach an immediate cessation of hostilities
in
Southern Kordofan State and provide their full co-operation to humanitarian
agencies in meeting the needs of the affected population."
The violence, which started on 5th June, continues in Southern Kordofan state.
US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice, spoke of reports that alleged that forces aligned with the north had “searched for southern forces and sympathisers, whom they arrested and allegedly
executed.”
Mbeki said political leaders from Southern Kordofan would be arriving shortly in
Addis Ababa to hold talks on ending the conflict.
Violence broke out after residents in the state's Nuba Mountains, many of whom
fought for the south during the country's decades-long civil war, were ordered
to
disarm by the new Khartoum-allied governor, Ahmed Haroun, who has been indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court.
South Sudan voted overwhelming in favour of independence in a January
referendum, prescribed by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which brought civil war to an end.
Abyei was meant to have its own referendum on whether it would stay in the north
or join the south, however the vote was postponed indefinitely over
disagreements on voter eligibility, to do with the nomadic, Khartoum-backed Misseriya Arab tribespeople.
Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states are clearly in the north, however many of
their residents fought with the south during the civil war, and tension has
been
high as the South prepares to separate.
Sources: BBC News, the Guardian, RTT News
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