South Sudan says Khartoum “deliberately” delaying withdrawing from Abyei

October 1, 2011 (JUBA) – South Sudan on Friday said Khartoum is deliberately delaying the withdrawal of armed forces from the contested oil region of Abyei, after Khartoum failed to withdraw its troops by an agreed deadline.

In a statement on Friday, Luka Biong, a senior member of South Sudan’s ruling SPLM also accused Khartoum of blocking the return of 110,000 people who had been displaced when Sudan’s military took control of the area in May.

On Saturday a Sudanese government official in Khartoum confirmed to AFP news agency that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) had not pulled out of the volatile border region.

A referendum was supposed to decide the fate of the region in January but it did not go ahead over Khartoum’s insistence that the Misseriya tribe, who enter the area with their cattle for a few months each year, be accorded full voting rights. South Sudan maintain that only residents of the area, largely the South-aligned Dinka Ngok be allowed to vote.

Speaking to AFP the official said that only after the Ethiopian peacekeeping force (UNISFA) has been fully deployed, would SAF pull out. According to the United Nations less than half have arrived so far.

On 30 September South Sudanese and Sudanese officials were supposed to hold a meeting of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC) but Khartoum canceled. Biong said that this confirmed suspicions that Khartoum did not intend to withdraw its forces from Abyei.

He said that Khartoum was “not keen in working with the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) to bring a lasting peace to Abyei area, but in continuing its occupation and ensuring that the Area’s true residents never return”.

The meeting was originally scheduled for the September 17.

The senior member of the South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said the cancelation of the meeting also conveniently coincided with the missed deadline for troop withdrawal.

(ST)