North, south Sudan agree to end conflict in Abyei

BY JT NGUYEN, DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR JUNE 20, 2011

STORY

Supporters carry swords and animal skin "draqh" shields as they welcome Sudan's President Omar Al Bashir during his visit to Osaef town in Sudan's Red Sea state June 20, 2011.

Photograph by: Stringer, Reuters

NEW YORK — North and south Sudan signed an agreement Monday to end fighting in Abyei and to demilitarize the disputed border town under the supervision of Ethiopian peacekeepers.

Envoys from the two sides in Sudan informed the United Nations Security Council in New York of the agreement, which called for demilitarizing the oil-rich region where the presence of troops from the north and south would be banned.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement signed in Addis Ababa, which included setting up an administration and police service. Ethiopian peacekeepers will be deployed to police the area.

"The secretary general pledges the full support of the United Nations to the parties in facilitating its implementation," Ban said in a statement.

He urged north and south Sudan to fully co-operate with the African Union in reaching agreement on "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 2005 agreement ended two decades of fighting between the north and south. Representatives of north and south Sudan attended the council meeting in New York, which was convened to discuss the flare-up in fighting in recent weeks between the two sides. They informed the council that an agreement had been reached to end the fighting in Southern Kordofan, in the Nuba Mountains in central south Sudan.

The agreement to end the fighting in Abyei was reached under the mediation of South Africa's former president, Thabo Mbeki, and Haile Menkarios, the UN special envoy for Sudan. Mbeki and Menkarios briefed the Security Council through video conference on the latest developments.

During the meeting, the United States said it will ask the council to deploy an interim security force to Abyei, where armed confrontations between northern and southern Sudan have wreaked havoc on civilians.

The interim force would be necessary if the UN mission is to be withdrawn when South Sudan becomes a sovereign nation on July 9, seceding from the Khartoum government in the north.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Washington planned to submit a draft resolution to the Security Council for the interim force. The UN mission in Sudan is composed of 10,000 military and civilian personnel, monitoring a north-south ceasefire since 2005.

The oil-rich Abyei straddles the border between north and south Sudan. Fighting in recent weeks has sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing the region seeking relief in UN-led camps.

Unlike south Sudan, which held a referendum in January to secede from the north, Abyei failed to vote on its future.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011