Sudan leaders agree to "full demilitarisation" of Abyei

Thabo Mbeki (L), South Sudan's Salva Kiir and Sudan's Omar Al-Bashir in April, 2011

Leaders from north and south Sudan signed an agreement pledging to end fighting in the disputed border region of Abyei, on Monday 20th June.

 

The agreement was reached after days of mediation by former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, in the Ethopian capital of Addis Ababa.

 

The deal requires both northern and southern troops to leave Abyei, to be replaced by Ethiopian peacekeepers, in an agreement that Mbeki has said will provide for the "full demilitarisation" of Abyei.

 

Both Sudan and South Sudan claim the oil-rich border region of Abyei, and northern forces seized the town last month, causing over one hundred thousand people to flee, mostly to the south.

Violence in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan has also led to 60,000 people being displaced.

Some 4,000 Ethiopian troops are expected to be brought in after the Sudanese army has left, although the UN will determine the exact troop numbers and their mandate.

With South Sudan planning to declare independence on 9th July, 2011, Mbeki said in his announcement of the deal, it was crucial that the peacekeepers were brought in as soon as possible. He urged the UN Security Council to authorise their deployment without delay.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement and pledged “the full support of the United Nations to the parties in facilitating its implementation.”

Ban also urged the two sides to resolve "all outstanding issues related to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and post-secession arrangement, and to reach an immediate cessation of hostilities in Southern Kordofan State and provide their full co-operation to humanitarian agencies in meeting the needs of the affected population."

The violence, which started on 5th June, continues in Southern Kordofan state. US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice, spoke of reports that alleged that forces aligned with the north had “searched for southern forces and sympathisers, whom they arrested and allegedly executed.”

Mbeki said political leaders from Southern Kordofan would be arriving shortly in Addis Ababa to hold talks on ending the conflict.

Violence broke out after residents in the state's Nuba Mountains, many of whom fought for the south during the country's decades-long civil war, were ordered to disarm by the new Khartoum-allied governor, Ahmed Haroun, who has been indicted for war crimes in Darfur by the International Criminal Court.

South Sudan voted overwhelming in favour of independence in a January referendum, prescribed by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which brought civil war to an end.

 

Abyei was meant to have its own referendum on whether it would stay in the north or join the south, however the vote was postponed indefinitely over disagreements on voter eligibility, to do with the nomadic, Khartoum-backed Misseriya Arab tribespeople.

Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states are clearly in the north, however many of their residents fought with the south during the civil war, and tension has been high as the South prepares to separate.

Sources: BBC News, the Guardian, RTT News

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

 

Sudan threatens to occupy two more border states

The northern Sudanese Army is planning on seizing two more areas on the north-south border, just weeks before the south is set to become an independent country.

According to a letter from the Sudanese military's high command, the northern army plans to take over Blue Nile and South Kordofan states in the next few days.

A letter, dated 23rd May, which the New York Times is in possession of, said the northern Sudanese army will “redeploy its forces to all areas north of the 1/1/1956 borders starting from 1 June 2011.”

The letter is from the chief of staff for the Sudanese military, Ismat Abdul Rahman Zain al-Abideen.

Blue Nile's Governor Malik Agar said on 29th May that northern forces had moved "dangerously close" to the bases of southern-allied fighters.

The Voice Of America reported on 30th May that the north Sudanese government has given the south until Wednesday, 1st June to withdraw its troops from the two states.

On 21st May, northern Sudanese forces took over the disputed border region of Abyei.

South Sudan held an independence referendum in January, in which an overwhelming majority of people voted to secede.

Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended decades of civil war in 2005, Abyei was meant to have its own referendum to decide whether to join the north or the south, but it was postponed after disagreements on voter eligibility.

Blue Nile and South Kordofan were supposed to have “popular consultations” on their future, however the process was poorly defined, and southerners say it has not be completed.

South Kordofan is the north's only oil-producing state.

Many fear that border disputes could lead the country back into civil war, although southern political leaders have said that will not happen.

“It is not our priority now to get involved in a war”, information minister for the government of South Sudan, Barnaba Marial Benjamin was quoted in the New York Times as saying.

Analysts however say the situation may be more difficult than that. Firstly, there are many more southern-allied troops in Blue Nile and South Kordofan than there were in Abyei.

Secondly, there would be no easy way for fighters in these states to flee south, even if they wanted to. Perhaps most importantly, Blue Nile state is clearly part of northern Sudan, according to boundaries established before Sudan became independent in 1956.

The issue of Blue Nile and South Kordofan states shows the difficulties in characterising the conflict in Sudan as simply a north-south fight or an ethnic fight. It is far more complex than that, and resentment of Khartoum was shared by a variety of groups throughout the country.

Many in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states joined the Southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the fight against Khartoum, but did not gain the same right to secession as those in the south.

A northern government spokesman, Rabie A Atti, said on 29th May that like Abyei, “Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan are part of the north, and nothing else.”

On the issue of Abyei, neither side appears willing to compromise on its claims to ownership; they did, however, agree on 30th May to establish a joint committee to try to defuse tension.

South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar said he and his northern counterpart Ali Osman Taha had the political will to resolve the dispute, and said that the south would never return to war with the north.

"During the meeting we have reiterated the SPLM position calling for withdrawal of the Sudanese army from Abyei. We have reiterated our commitment not to return to war and demanded that the UN peacekeepers remain in Abyei and the popular consultation areas in Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains," Machar told reporters in Khartoum.

The northern government has given conflicting statements about their intentions in Abyei. Some have said the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) will stay until new security arrangments have been reached, while others have said they will be there until the long-delayed referendum takes place.

South Sudan is set to become independent on 11th July, 2011.

Sources: Bloomberg, New York Times, Sudan Tribune, VOA

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

North threatens to withhold recognition of South Sudan over border issues

Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) considerably upped the tension in the country on Thursday, 26th May, when it announced that it would not recognise the independence of South Sudan in July unless the new state's borders were demarcated.

The head of the NCP's political mobilisation bureau Al-Haj Magid Siwar said “How can we approve and recognise a state separate from us that we don't know where their borders begin or end?”

There are currently six problematic border points, as well the border region of Abyei, which is claimed by both sides. Both sides blame the other for delays in demarcation efforts.

South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to split from the north in a January independence referendum, which was part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended the decades-long civil war.

Abyei was due to have its own referendum in January to decide whether to join the north or the south, but the vote was postponed indefinitely due to disagreements over voter eligibility.

Tensions have been high in Abyei since and clashes between the Juba-supported Dinka Ngok, permanent residents of the region, and the Arab, nomadic Misseriya tribes, supported by Khartoum, have resulted in dozens of deaths.

On 22nd May, northern Sudanese forces took over Abyei in retaliation for attacks on their troops in the area by troops from the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

Speaking on Tuesday 24th May, Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir said he would not withdraw his troops from the region and stressed that Abyei belongs to the north.

"Abyei is Sudanese land, Northern land [and] we will not withdraw from it,” he was quoted in the Sudan Tribune as saying.

Al-Bashir also announced that he had given northern troops the 'green light' to attack southern forces if provoked.

Despite this, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said the south remained committed to the CPA.

“South Sudan will not go back to war. It will never happen under my leadership,” he said at a press conference in Juba on Thursday, 26th May.

“The Government of South Sudan remains committed to peace. But let some people not interpret this as acts of cowardice,” he said.

“We are not new to this kind of provocation from the NCP. Their invasion of Abyei should not be viewed as an isolated incident, but part of their plan to cause havoc in the region ahead of independence,” he argued.

Experts fear the continued dispute over Abyei could return the country to civil war.

Sources: AP, BBC News, Sudan Tribune, Sudan Vision

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.