Abyei will be free from troops by end of September, S. Sudan’s SPLM says
By Ngor Arol Garang
September 17, 2011 (JUBA) — A senior member of the South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People Liberation (SPLM), on Friday denied media reports quoting an official from the Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party as denying report by the United Nations on withdrawal of the two armed forces from contested region of Abyei.
The AJOC is an entity formed with equal representation from Khartoum, Juba and the United Nations. It is tasked with responsibilities to coordinate and monitor the implementation processes of a number of issues which the two parties have agreed upon it
Luka said by the end of September, only forces of the United Nations shall have a presence in the Abyei Area as defined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration and that reports released Thursday 15, claiming that President Omer al-Bashir had rejected the agreement reached in Addis Abba last week ago “incorrect”.
“The Government of Sudan has confirmed to the RSS AJOC Co-Chair that it was merely expressing that the September 8 agreement was an additional step to recommitting the parties to the duties and obligations already affirmed in the Agreement on Temporary Arrangements for the Administration and Security of Abyei Area signed in Addis Ababa in June,” he said.
Deng who comes from Abyei was the first senior official from the area to voice his disapproval against the military takeover of Abyei by the Sudanese army in May 2011.
He resigned from a ministerial portfolio he held in the then government of National unity before the country formally split in two separate states in July 2011 to protest against the military control of the contested area.
He said the close involvement of Presidents Thabo Mbeki, Buyoya, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and other African Union officials, reminds the two governments of their responsibilities to ensure that neither SPLA nor Sudan Armed Forces or other armed groups shall have a presence in the Abyei Area on September 30.
“Indeed, under the agreement on Abyei, this withdrawal is to be immediate. Troop redeployments are not conditional to arrival of an additional forces of the United Nations provided by Ethiopian government or the first sitting of the new Abyei Area Administration”, the statement reads in part.
He further said that Tadesse Werede Tesfay, Force Commander of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) met today on 16 September 2011, with the people of Abyei in Agok. The meeting agreed that between now and September 17 the SAF shall withdraw from Abyei Town to Todac and the SPLM shall move beyond North-South Border.
“Between September 18 and 24 the SAF will further withdraw from Kec (Diffra) and between September 25 and 30 the SAF will complete its full withdraw from the Abyei Area as defined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling. Marking the SAF withdrawal from Abyei Town, on September 22 the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee shall hold its first meeting in Abyei Town itself”, Luka detailed.
The AJOC co-president further added that the meeting agreed that community leaders and chiefs will travel to North of Abyei to assess the areas for the return of IDPs that will need protection.
He said that the withdrawal of all troops from Abyei together with the presence of the Ethiopian forces shall pave the way for both governments to jointly continue exercising their authority over Abyei “until the final status of the area can be determined in a manner that respects the will of the residents of Abyei”.
(ST)