Sudan raps UN over Abyei attack

May 21, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – North Sudan on Saturday leveled criticism at the UN Mission in the country, saying it has failed to assign blame to south Sudan over an attack which reportedly killed 22 soldiers in the north-south hotly contested region of Abyei.

Tension in Sudan’s flashpoint region of Abyei rose dramatically on Thursday after the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), north Sudan army, accused the south’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) of being behind an attack on its forces as they were evacuating the region.

The attack occurred as SAF forces were being escorted out of Abyei by peacekeepers of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) as per an agreement signed in South Kordofan’s town of Kadugli in January to withdraw all forces from the volatile region.

SAF on Friday said that 22 of its soldiers were killed in the attack which targeted a 200-strong battalion.

UNMIS confirmed the attack on its peacekeepers, without mentioning SAF, and said it took place in an area controlled by the SPLA. However, the mission stopped short of directly accusing the SPLA of being responsible.

UNMIS also called for an investigation into the attack, saying it constitutes a crime punishable under international law.

The spokesperson of Sudan’s foreign ministry, Khalid Musa, told reporters in the capital Khartoum that the UN’s “state of partiality and lack of clarity” in this case gives the SPLM, the ruling party in South Sudan, “more justifications to commit repeated violations of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement” (CPA), the 2005’s peace deal which ended north-south civil wars and paved the way for South Sudan secession in a referendum held in January.

Musa, whose statement was reported by the country’s official news agency SUNA on Saturday, was keen to note that UNMIS forces were also subjected to the attack, calling on the mission to have the courage to “name things as they truly are.”

The Sudanese diplomat urged the UN and stakeholders in the international community to issue a “patent condemnation” against the SPLM and take immediate measures to hold it responsible for the breach of its political responsibility and the CPA.

He went on to say that Sudan had given international bodies an ample opportunity to denounce the SPLM and force it to bring the perpetrators to account. But the SPLM, Musa added, had been attempting to wriggle out of its political responsibility.

Meanwhile, the US state department on Friday deplored the attack on UN forces by south Sudan army, saying it constitutes a clear breach of the Kadugli agreement. The US department called on South Sudan to hold those who carried out the attack responsible and take steps to show commitment to the implementation of Kadugli Agreement.

The oil-producing region of Abyei witnessed several instances of violence since a referendum to decide the status of the area failed to take place as planned in January.

Disagreements between north and south Sudan over who can vote in the plebiscite have derailed efforts to reach a political settlement amid reports of military buildups by both sides in the area.

At least 14 people were killed in clashes between the SPLA and SAf in Abyei earlier this month. As with the current case, both sides accused each other of starting the fight.

(ST)