20110621
Xinhua
UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- UN representatives of Sudan and South Sudan welcomed an agreement here Monday on demilitarizing the disputed oil-rich area of Abyei, but exchanged bitter accusations over who started the violence in Abyei and another battleground.


The temporary demilitarization of Abyei will be patrolled by Ethiopian peacekeepers, UN officials said.

The deal was announced to the UN Security Council by Thabo Mbeki, chair of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), via teleconference.

According to Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Sudan's permanent representative to the UN, the deal was "good news," and demonstrates the determination of the government in Khartoum to resolve all pending issues in Sudan.

Meanwhile, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, head of South Sudan's mission to the United States and the UN, said South Sudan welcomes the agreement.

Under the agreement, "Abyei will no longer have a special administrative status under the presidency of the Republic of Sudan, but rather will fall under the supervision of both the president of South Sudan and the president of the Republic of Sudan," he said.

Clashes between Northern and Southern forces in Abyei came just weeks before South Sudan is scheduled to become officially independent of Khartoum on July 9.

"We reiterate our belief that the UN's main objective should be to support the full implementation of the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) and to avoid a security vacuum after July 9," Gatkuoth said.
The CPA, signed in 2005 to put an end to a long civil war between North and South Sudan, mandated that the South hold a referendum on secession, which was held in January 2011 and resulted in a pro-independence outcome.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) of the central government in Khartoum occupied Abyei on May 21, forcing thousands to flee their homes. But Osman said the SAF's move was justified due to abuses by Abyei's administration, which he said brought elements of the South Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) into the region and encouraged them to attack members of the SAF.

Osman said the North had exercised self-restraint many times despite the killing of some SAF members, and then "decided to enter and put an end to that havoc."

On May 19, members of the SPLA opened fire on a convoy of SAF members and members of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), killing 22.

While showing South Sudan's government's regret over the exchange of fire, Gatkuoth stressed that "the use of force by Khartoum in Abyei has been completely unjustifiable and wholly disproportionate, and is an attempt to circumvent the full and final implementation of the CPA and secure by force that which it has not secured at the negotiating table or in the binding award of an international tribunal."
The demography of Abyei was a major reason why the status of the area has yet to be determined. There was discord between the North and South over which of the groups that use the land were eligible to vote in a referendum that was supposed to determine Abyei's status, and as a result this referendum was never carried out.

Aside from Abyei, dispute was also obvious in the oil-producing state of Southern Kordofan, where fighting between the SAF and the SPLA has been ongoing since June 5.

"We ask the Security Council to insist on the immediate signature of an agreement to end hostilities," Gatkuoth said.

"Khartoum must also allow access to humanitarian agencies to help those who have been displaced. Without immediate and firm action on the part of the Security Council, the situation in Southern Kordofan risks degenerating into ethnic cleansing and possible genocide," Gatkuoth said.

Osman defended the SAF's actions in the region, blaming the SPLA for recent flare up in violence.

"That is why the Sudanese Armed Forces entered again into Southern Kordofan to put an end to the horrendous violations of the SPLA, which caused the killing of hundreds of innocent people and displacement of thousands of civilians from that area," Osman told reporters.

On Monday, Mbeki told the council through teleconference that the North and South are in the process of beginning discussions on Southern Kordofan to reach a political and security solution.