UNSC says Sudan must withdraw from Abyei, warns on Misseriya ’influx’
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June 3, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
issued a strongly worded statement condemning the takeover of Abyei by
the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) last month.
JPEG - 32 kb
Nelson Messone, President of the Security Council for the month of
June 2011 and Permanent Representative of Gabon to the United Nations
(UN Photo)
Abyei is an oil rich region that lies on the North-South borders of
Sudan but has remained a source of dispute between the National
Congress Party (NCP) sand the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The area was supposed to have a referendum held last January for its
residents to decide whether they want to be part of the North or
South. The latter will become an independent state nest July.
The NCP and SPLM have failed to agree on who is eligible to vote in
the Abyei referendum and various mediation efforts by regional and
international players were unsuccessful in breaking the impasse.
Following an ambush by Southern forces against an SAF convoy that was
escorted by UN peacekeepers, the Northern army moved on May 21st to
take full control of Abyei. The Sudanese president Omer Hassan
Al-Bashir immediately issued a decree dissolving the area’s
administrative council without consulting with his First Vice
president Salva Kiir who is also the president of South Sudan
government.
The United Nations estimates that around 60,000 have been displaced as
a result of the military offensive. Images released showed burning
huts and ongoing looting.
A monitoring group known as Satellite Sentinel said satellite images
showed "evidence of attacks by armored vehicles and the destruction of
villages". It estimated that one-third of civilian buildings in the
town were burned by SAF.
Today the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) expressed its grave
concern on the " ongoing violence and rapidly deteriorating situation
in Abyei".
"The Security Council strongly condemns the Government of Sudan’s
taking and continued maintenance of military control over the Abyei
Area and the resulting displacement of tens of thousands of residents
of Abyei. The Council calls on the Sudanese Armed Forces to ensure an
immediate halt to all looting, burning, and illegal resettlement" said
a unanimous formal council statement read out to a meeting of the
15-nation body by Gabon Ambassador Nelson Messone, this month’s
president.
"The Council stresses that all those responsible for violations of
international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, as
well as those who ordered those acts, will be held accountable".
"The Security Council condemns the fact that two of the three main
supply routes from the North to the South have been blocked, and that
the Banton Bridge in Southern Abyei was destroyed by the Sudanese
Armed Forces, which impedes needed trade and makes the return of
civilians to Abyei more difficult. The Council calls for immediate
measures to restore full access through all routes".
The seizure of Abyei by SAF was called a "serious violation of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement" signed in 2005 between the North and
South.
"The Council underscores that failure by the Government of Sudan to
comply with and to fulfill the CPA jeopardizes the benefits that could
flow from such compliance".
The statement also expressed concern over the sudden influx of Arab
The council condemns all unilateral actions meant to create facts on
the ground that would prejudice the outcome of negotiations," it said.
"The council condemns all unilateral actions meant to create facts on
the ground that would prejudice the outcome of negotiations," it said.
Diplomats said that the original U.S. draft had used the phrase
"ethnic cleansing," but other council members argued that it might be
overstating the case. The phrase was dropped from the final statement
adopted by the council.
Bashir declared that Abyei belongs to the North and rejected
international calls for withdrawal. However, other government
officials indicated that SAF could withdraw on the condition that new
arrangements be reached with the South.
U.S. president Barack Obama dispatched his counterterrorism adviser
John Brennan to Sudan this week for talks on Abyei.
In a warning of follow-up unusual in such statements, the council said
it would meet in the coming days to review how its demands had been
implemented.
(ST)
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