US envoy says exerting efforts to avert Abyei crisis
June 1, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The US special envoy for Sudan said Sunday he would shuttle between northern and southern leaders to try to resolve a crisis in a disputed oil district where deadly clashes have sparked fears of a new civil war.
The envoy called for creative thinking in order to restore security in Abyei, a contested oil district on the border between north and south, with a wider mandate for foreign peacekeepers one possibility for consideration.
“If we are going to get humanitarian relief and allow those 50,000 people to return, we first have to get a sense of security back there and that means a much different arrangement than we’ve had to date,” Williamson said.
Sudanese government forces control the main town in Abyei after the latest bout of heavy fighting ended on May 20. Violence and looting flattened the once bustling small town and displaced up to 90,000 people.
UN peacekeeping monitors are conducting patrols in the streets. The arrangements of a US-mediated 2005 peace that ended Sudan’s devastating 21-year civil war between north and south stipulate joint Sudanese force patrols.
“There are a variety of ways that have to be looked at,” Williamson said.
Asked whether a more effective international peacekeeping mission should be deployed, Williamson said the possibility “certainly should be considered”.
“There are other options that also have to be considered but the principle of security in Abyei is uncompromisable,” Williamson said.
Describing the devastation of the town as a “tragedy”, Williamson said he would hold talks with the SPLM — the main coalition partners of the National Congress in the unity government set up under the peace deal — to discuss how Abyei would be resolved.
“We think there is a way forward, that there’s no excuse to allow this failure to result in ending the chance of real peace in Sudan,” he said.
(AFP)