SPLA hands over Hameshkoreb to Sudan’s Kassala State
June 11, 2006 (KASSALA, eastern Sudan) — Kassala State’s Government has received Hameshkorieb area form Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) Sunday in the framework of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Hamesh Koreb, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) northeast of Khartoum in Sudan’s Kassala province, was the largest town controlled by the SPLM/A in eastern Sudan during the 21-year north-south civil war that ended last January.
Present on the occasion were representative of Kassala State government and Minister of Culture and Information, Mustafa Hassan Mustafa, the Commissioner of Hamesh Koreb Locality Ahmed Bittay, the representative of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Colonel Makou Loung, and commandor of the UN forces in Sudan.
The minister pointed out that the area will witness development during the coming period, stressing the commitment of the national unity government in the state to carry out its tasks as one team for the realization of the development and stability in the state.
Meanwhile, the representative of the national administration in Hamesh Koreb area, Ahmed Omer, tackled the role of the SPLA in the improvement of the environment and keeping security in the area.
Under the terms of that agreement, the SPLM/A was to have withdrawn its troops from Hamesh Koreb by 9 January 2006, the first anniversary of the peace deal. But due to logistical delays and other unspecified reasons this move was delayed.
The first phase of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLA) withdrawal from Eastern Sudan to the Southern Sudan commenced on 20th April.
On January 11 about 3,000 Sudanese soldiers backed by four tanks deployed to the town of Hamesh Koreb and ordered former rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) to leave.
Sudanese troop feared that the former rebel SPLA would delve Hamesh Korebr to the Eastern Sudan rebels who controlled the locality.
(ST)