New troops deployment to Abyei needs Sudan’s approval- UNMIS
By Julius N. Uma
October 20, 2010 (JUBA) – The deployment of additional troops in buffer zones along the north-south border regions of Abyei is impossible without the consent the National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan’s Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) parties, David Gressly, the southern Sudan regional coordinator for the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) on Tuesday.
The referenda on southern independence and whether Abyei wishes to be part of the north or south, are key to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended over two-decades of war between north and south.
There are fears that as tensions rise the conflict may be reignited. An estimated 2 million people are said to have died, with close 4 million displaced.
A recent call by SPLM leader and southern President Salva Kiir for the UN to create a buffer zone on the north-south border was met with anger from Sudan’s ruling NCP.
Gressly said that although the UN is reviewing where to deploy peacekeepers but that any increase or significant redeployment would have to be agreed with both parties.
“We’re constantly in the process of looking at what makes sense and what adjustments are there in terms of how we deploy our forces, and we are doing that as we speak” Gressly said.
He added, “Anything we do in this regard [deployment of UN forces] would require the consent of the parties. We are in constant contact; we have standard mechanisms for that.”
To facilitate the process, Gressly added, the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) for the ceasefire zone, which is based in Juba, is now being manned from six other locations in the south region.
The UNMIS regional coordinator also lauded the role played by 15-member UN Security Council delegation which recently visited Juba, saying the latter together and high level UN panel, will function independently from the technical and logistical support from UNMIS to ensure success in the referendum.
The panel, which was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month, is headed by the former president of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa.
Asked to elaborate further on what UNMIS is doing in support of the referendum, Gressly said the UN body has already established a referendum support presence in all the 10 state of southern Sudan.
More specifically, he noted that UNMIS remains has resolved to work directly with the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), saying county-level subcommittees, and the first county teams of UN Volunteers and UN Police advisers will be deployed to referenda support bases starting this coming Friday.
Gressly said there were logistical challenges and the tight deadlines to meet before the referenda but said that the UN was still working to run the rederendum on schedule on 9 January 2011.
The south is widely expected to vote for independence and Abyei to vote to join the south potentially newly-independent south.
(ST)
murlescrewed
New troops deployment to Abyei needs Sudan’s approval- UNMIS
The UNMIS forces are as useless as they come. First UNMIS allowed Abyei town to be destroyed before and did not raise a finger. If South is really relying on the UNMIS for some magic intervention, they are in for a rude shock.