Leaders from north and south Sudan signed an agreement on Monday to demilitarise the disputed central region of Abyei and allow an Ethiopian peacekeeping force to move in, said former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who is helping lead peace talks.
Mbeki said Monday’s agreement provided for the full demilitarisation of Abyei, a fertile land near major oil fields that both north and south claim as their own. Troops from northern Sudan moved into the region last month, action that sent tens of thousands of people who were aligned with the south fleeing.
“The Sudan Armed Forces will pull out and will be deployed outside Abyei,” said Mbeki, who helped lead the talks in neighboring Ethiopia.
The agreement comes three weeks before the south is set to secede from the north and create the world’s newest country. Heavy violence has broken out along the north-south border in the run-up to the south’s independence declaration.
An Ethiopian peacekeeping force that is ready to deploy will move in to Abyei as soon as possible, Mbeki said. The United Nations Security Council will decide at a meeting in New York what the mandate and size of the Ethiopian force will be.
Shortly after the agreement was reached, Mbeki told the UN Security Council by video conference that both parties want the UN to move quickly to see the agreement implemented. Mbeki said urgent action would allow the displaced people of Abyei to return after military forces leave, allowing the humanitarian situation to be addressed.
The text of the agreement says the Ethiopian forces will deploy “as soon as authorised by the UN”. One brigade — typically around 4Â 000 troops — is to be deployed.
“It will also bring to an end this threat of violence, and actual violence in the area, so we are really hoping that the Security Council will look at this agreement as early as possible and take all the necessary decisions so that the various provisions in the agreement can be implemented,” Mbeki said by video conference.
Tens of thousands of people fled Abyei after northern troops moved in last month. More recently, tens of thousands of people aligned with the south have also fled attacks by the northern military in the state of South Kordofan. Talks on the violence in that region are set to begin on Tuesday, Mbeki said.
North and south Sudan fought a civil war that lasted decades and killed some two million people. It ended with a 2005 peace deal that gave the south the right to hold a self-determination vote. The region voted overwhelmingly in January to secede, but the north and south have yet to work out details like demarcation of the border and sharing of oil wealth.
The north and south also agreed on a temporary solution for the administration of Abyei. The Abyei Council will elect a chairperson nominated by the government of Sudan. A joint committee with two members from both sides and another member nominated by African Union chair Jean Ping will supervise the administration, the police force and the security situation.
“This should result in restoring peace and open the way for the two parties to discuss the final status of Abyei,” Mbeki said. “That is not possible until you have stabilised the security situation.” — Sapa-AP