Südsudan/Sudan (Abyei)

Days before the resumption of talks on the outstanding issues, Khartoum has accused Juba of unilaterally appointing a new administration in Abyei, and decided to send a steering committee too in the disputed area.

Days before the resumption of talks on the outstanding issues, Khartoum has accused Juba of unilaterally appointing a new administration in Abyei, and decided to send a steering committee too in the disputed area.

(T)he deal signed on Saturday in Abyei town by officials representing Sudan and South Sudan, represents further progress towards resolving the thorny issue. As demanded in a UN Security Council resolution in May both sides pulled their armed forces out of the area.

(T)he deal signed on Saturday in Abyei town by officials representing Sudan and South Sudan, represents further progress towards resolving the thorny issue. As demanded in a UN Security Council resolution in May both sides pulled their armed forces out of the area.

Thabo Mbeki, head of the African Union (AU) panel mediating talks between Sudan and South Sudan, is preparing a draft comprehensive agreement on all outstanding issues between the two neighbor as well as another one for Khartoum and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N).

Sudanese negotiators on Monday dismissed as “nothing new” what their South Sudanese counterparts have termed as the “last offer” to resolve the two countries’ disputes over oil transit fees and the status of Abyei, in the latest setback to talks bound by a UN deadline due to end in nine days.

South Sudan on Saturday said that the United Nations has “officially” confirmed the illegal presence of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in the oil contested border of Abyei, describing presence of the forces as violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2046.

Sudan will keep police forces in the disputed Abyei region bordering South Sudan for now, the state news agency said, defying a call by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to withdraw.

Sudanese troops on Tuesday withdrew from the disputed territory of Abyei, a UN spokesman told AFP. Rival South Sudan had already pulled its security forces out of Abyei in line with a UN Security Council demand for both sides to demilitarize the territory.

In a new resolution, the Security Council today extended by six months the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping force for Abyei, an area contested by South Sudan and Sudan, and demanded that the two countries finalize the establishment of an administration for the area in line with an agreement signed last year.