Sudanese parties appoint president of Abyei arbitration tribunal

October 28, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) announced today the appointment of Pierre Marie Dupuis as the Presiding Arbitrator of an arbitration tribunal on the finding of Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC).

The President is appointed by the four arbitrators that are named by the two Sudanese parties.

The two signatories of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement agreed last June, in a roadmap to resolve Abyei disagreement, to refer their dispute to an arbitration tribunal. They formally referred their case to the PCA on July 12.

The arbitration tribunal has to determine whether or not the ABC experts exceeded their mandate “to define and demarcate the area of the Nine Ngok Dinka Chiefdoms transferred from Bahr el Ghazal to Kordofan in 1905”.

The tribunal shall apply and resolve the dispute before it in accordance with the provisions of the CPA, particularly Abyei Protocol and Abyei Appendix.

The appointment of the French professor marks the beginning of the countdown for the six weeks period to present the oral arguments before the court and submit documents. The written pleadings are expected to start during the period of 8-12 December.

The court is expected to issue its final decision in June 2009.

The government of Sudan and the SPLM appointed the following members of the arbitral tribunal the parties have appointed the following members of the Arbitral Tribunal:
Judge Awn Al-Khasawneh, Professor Gerhard Hafner, Professor W. Michael Reisman and Judge Stephen Schwebel.

The Agent for The Government of Sudan is Ambassador Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed, Dirdeiry, while the Agent for SPLM is Gary Born, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.

(ST)