BREAKING NEWS: Sudan announces withdrawal of troops from Abyei
May 28, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese army (SAF) has redeployed troops out of the hotly contested region of Abyei at the behest of African Union (AU) mediator Thabo Mbeki, the country’s official news agency, SUNA, reported on Monday.
“The [Sudanese] Armed Forces announces its withdrawal from Abyei on the request of Mbeki” SUNA said, citing a statement by SAF.
Sudan has been under pressure to withdraw troops from Abyei ever since South Sudan did the same earlier this month following a United Nations Security Council resolution that ordered both countries to pull out of disputed border regions.
The hotly contested region was occupied by SAF in May last year following an attack against its troops by southern forces in the area.
However, SAF’s statement reiterated claims that Abyei is a “northern” territory and that the decision to withdraw was taken after the government made “a number of demands that guarantees Sudan’s sovereignty over the region.”
The announced withdrawal comes ahead of the resumption on Tuesday of talks between the two neighbours in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa under the mediation of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Former US President Jimmy Carter visited the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday and said that Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir told him he was willing to withdraw troops from Abyei.
The status of Abyei was supposed to be determined via a referendum scheduled to take place in January last year, at the same time as the one that granted South Sudan independence. However, the vote stalled as Sudan and South Sudan failed to agree on who had the right to vote.
(ST)