SPLM committed to respect and implement The Hague’s ruling on Abyei

By James Gatdet Dak

July 16, 2009 (JUBA) – The Deputy Chairperson of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said the party is committed to respecting and implementing the expected ruling on Abyei’s boundary by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands.

Southern Sudan Vice President, Riek Machar, who also chaired the SPLM delegation in The Hague during the Court’s deliberations in April, told journalists at Juba International Airport on Thursday, while on his way to Geneva via Khartoum that he hoped the Court will find that the Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) experts have not exceeded their mandate.

“Hopefully they (Judges) will find that the ABC experts have not exceeded their mandate. If that is so, the ABC report will have to be implemented,” he said.

If it is found that the experts exceeded their mandate, the Court will decide where the boundaries should be demarcated based on the arguments presented by the two parties during their respective deliberations in The Hague.

ABC experts’ report, which determined the Abyei boundaries as required by the CPA, was rejected since July 2005 by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), saying the experts had exceeded their mandate in the process.

Machar called on the people of Southern Sudan and Abyei to wait calmly. “We all wait for arbitration decision. This is international. We [SPLM] have committed ourselves that we will respect it, and we also tell the people of Southern Sudan, particularly the people of Abyei to wait calmly for the decision, and we keep to our word,” he advised.

Machar said he would travel to The Hague from Geneva on July 21 to attend the declaration of the verdict on the Abyei boundary by the Permanent Court of Arbitration which will take place on July 22, 2009.

(ST)