Unity State rejects redeployment of Sudanese troops to protect oil fields
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By Bonifacio Taban Kuich
April 2, 2011 (BENTIU) – The government and parliament of the Unity
state decided during the weekend to reject the deployment of 300
northern Sudanese troops in the areas of oil production to protest
recent Bashir’s statement on Abyei.
JPEG - 17.7 kb
An aerial view of an oil field near the town of Bentiu, central Sudan,
Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007. (AP)
Khartoum and Juba agreed to re-deploy 300 JIU soldiers to the Manga,
Toor, Toma South, Naar and Tharjath oil fields of Unity state to guard
the oil production areas until the official declaration of South
Sudan’s independence on 9 July 2011. Bentiu government also endorsed
the redeployment plan.
The Unity state government held a joint council of ministers meeting
with the state legislative assembly on 29 April to deliberate on the
deployment of JIU from the Sudan Army Forces (SAF) and to discuss
President Omer al Bashir’s recent inflammatory speech declaring Abyei
as part of the north.
nity State governor Taban Deng Gai, already on Friday 28 April told
Sudan Tribune that he called an immediate meeting of the council of
ministers and state legislative assembly to brief them about the
policy used by JIU and SA.
After intense debate, the Unity state council of ministers and the
state assembly came up with a resolution to not accept the step taken
by northern government to redeploy JIUs troops in Unity state.
"We request the Government of South Sudan to provide quick solutions
to this provocative penetration by the JIU from SAF, knowing that the
rebel militias will use the presence of SAF bases as a forward
position for morale, information and logistical support to destabilise
South Sudan," said State minister of information and communication,
Gideon Gatpan Thoar,
"We ask the Khartoum regime not to use the out-dated Paluoc
Resolutions to provoke hostilities in the oilfields ahead of South
Sudan’s independence and demand that the Khartoum government honours
the international court of arbitration [decision on Abyei," Thoar
further said.
The ruling parties in north and south Sudan respectively the National
Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan people’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)
agreed in the Paluoc Resolutions last December before the referendum
to deploy JIU form both SAF and SPLA to guard the oil production areas
in the Unity state.
Thoar added that the process of South Sudan independence is guided by
the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and that the northern army should no
longer be allowed to operate in South Sudan because of recent
developments including the SAF and JIU withdrawal, the expulsion of
Southern MPs from the national parliament in Khartoum, and the
numerous militias operating in greater Upper Nile region, which the
government of south Sudan believes are being backed by Khartoum.
(ST)
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