---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 11:20 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fwd: RoSS Statement to UN Security Council on Abyei To: Group <[email protected]>
1. UN Security Council Briefing on Abyei Area (UNISFA Report) and South Kordofan/Blue Nile States New York, 6 October 2011 Statement by the Republic of South Sudan Madam President, The Republic of South Sudan welcomes the Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in the Abyei area. We wish to express our appreciation to the Government of Ethiopia for providing troops to UNISFA and for its continued efforts in support of peace and stability in the region. Madam President, The Secretary-General’s report clearly demonstrates that UNISFA is operational. The Force Commander has reported separately that the troops currently deployed are capable of securing the Abyei area. The presence of other troops serves only to hamper the fulfillment of the UNISFA mandate. It does not enhance security in the area and nor does it hasten the return of the displaced population to their home areas. As the Secretary-General noted in his report, the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC), comprised of senior representatives from the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, met for the first time on 7 and 8 September in Addis Ababa in the presence of the AUHIP and the UN. At this meeting, the members of the AJOC agreed and signed a detailed timetable for the withdrawal of all troops from the Abyei area - as defined by the 2009 Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling - by 30 September. Subsequent to the issuance of the Secretary-General’s report, the Force Commander has confirmed that SPLA forces have compiled with the agreed withdrawal plan. It is extremely disappointing that the Republic of Sudan has chosen not to honor this clear and unambiguous agreement. As of today, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) troops have not withdrawn from the Abyei area, despite the clear timeline agreed at the AJOC meeting, signed by senior representatives of the Government of the Republic of Sudan. The Republic of South Sudan rejects in the strongest terms the assertion that the SAF can only withdraw upon full deployment of the Ethiopian peacekeepers. This is not stated anywhere in the AJOC document. It is also a wholly disingenuous interpretation of the earlier 20 June Agreement between the Parties on the Abyei area, which states unambiguously in Article 1 that it provides for: “the redeployment of Sudanese military forces (Sudan Armed Forces and Sudan People’s Liberation Army) from Abyei Area, immediately consequent on the deployment of an Interim Security Force for Abyei (ISFA) composed of Ethiopian troops.” Madam President, The SAF must now withdraw immediately and unconditionally from the Abyei area. We respectfully request the Council to set a deadline for this withdrawal, and to take action if the deadline is not adhered to. In this regard we are also concerned that the Republic of Sudan has stated that the SAF cannot withdraw from Abyei unless the area’s institutions are established. While establishing these institutions is necessary, in no agreement between the Parties is the withdrawal of troops conditional upon the establishment of these institutions. The Republic of South Sudan is of course fully prepared to implement the agreements with regards to the establishment of the Abyei Area Administration. However, the Republic of South Sudan has recently communicated to the AUHIP and the Republic of Sudan that its nominees for the Deputy Chief Administrator for the Abyei Area and the Speaker of Abyei Area Council are unacceptable. None of the nominees are residents of the Area, as required by the Abyei Protocol and the more recent agreements between the Parties. The Republic of South Sudan conceded that the position of Speaker of the Abyei Area Council could be a nominee from the NCP but it was agreed that this person would be a Ngok Dinka from the Abyei area. Madam President, The Republic of South Sudan welcomes the further rapid deployment of troops as part of UNISFA, and wishes to provide any logistical support necessary for this purpose. In this regard we support the early conclusion of a Status of Forces Agreement for UNISFA that includes both the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan. While the boundaries of the Abyei area have been definitively delineated by the binding ruling of the PCA, the provisions of the Abyei Protocol to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as to the status of Abyei area have yet to be implemented. Abyei area therefore retains a special status and dual jurisdiction between both the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan, and as such it is appropriate for both countries to be fully involved in the conclusion of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The Republic of South Sudan has made its comments on the draft SOFA and is ready to sign it, while the Republic of Sudan is delaying the process of finalizing the SOFA by suggesting changes in that are inconsistent with international norms. Madam President, As the Council is aware, over 110,000 civilians were displaced from their homes in the Abyei area in late May. Rampant looting and burning of homes took place in the aftermath of the Republic of Sudan’s occupation of the area. The civilian returnees will require significant amounts of assistance to rebuild their lives and their homes. In order to ensure that this support reaches affected populations, and to provide the greatest level of protection to civilians, we believe that the Abyei area should remain accessible to humanitarian personnel operating from both Sudan and South Sudan. This implies that both countries should have the power to grant clearance for access to the area. We regret that the OHCHR Mission to assess the possibility of establishing a human rights presence in the Abyei area pursuant to the provisions of Article 10 of Security Council Resolution 1990 was denied access to the Abyei area by the Republic of Sudan. We request that the Council take action to ensure that the human rights monitoring that it called for in Resolution 1990 be allowed to take place. Madam President, The Republic of South Sudan underlines that it is willing and ready to continue serious negotiations with the Republic of Sudan on all outstanding issues. My Government seeks a lasting peace in the Abyei area which provides for the return with dignity of the displaced populations of the Abyei area to their home areas. We wish to see the security situation on the ground stabilize to enable the peaceful return of the civilian population. We recommit ourselves to negotiate in good faith the terms of a final agreement on the status of the Abyei area, consistent with the relevant provisions of the CPA and the 2009 Award of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. My Government will also support the peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile. The current violence in these areas is deeply troubling to us, especially given that these areas in our twin country, the Republic of Sudan , create a risk of spillover effects that could impact our own security situation. We are receiving thousands of refugees from the Two Areas and we call on the Council to urge the humanitarian organizations and UN agencies, particularly UNHCR, to address their basic humanitarian needs. The Council may need to consider facilitating a humanitarian framework agreement similar to Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) to ensure access to the war-affected populations in the Two Areas. The Republic of South Sudan reiterates that it has not and will not interfere in any domestic conflict situation in the Republic of Sudan. On 8 October President Salva Kiir will be visiting Khartoum as a sign of his commitment to strengthening good relations between the two countries. While we recognize that these issues are internal affairs of the Republic of Sudan, we believe that the challenges in the Two Areas stem from a failure to implement the provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the June 2011 agreement facilitated by the AUHIP in Addis Ababa. We urge the Government of Sudan to honor and respect the Addis Ababa Agreement as a framework through which to engage in dialogue to find a peaceful resolution to the outstanding issues of the CPA. We urge the Council’s continued support for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with respect to the Two Areas, as well as the need to ensure humanitarian access to the war-affected populations in these areas. Madam President, We thank the Council for its continued support for peace and stability in the region, and stand ready to continue cooperation with the Council, the UN peacekeeping missions, the AU and regional partners in support of this purpose. Thank you, Madam President. END1 2. Sudan vows to withdraw from Abyei as Juba urges action against Khartoum October 6, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan has pledged to withdraw its army from the contested region of Abyei following the full deployment of UN peacekeepers as South Sudan urged the UN Security Council to give Khartoum an ultimatum on the issue. Sudan and South Sudan both failed to fully redeploy their troops outside of Abyei as stipulated by an agreement Khartoum and Juba signed on 20 June, flouting a timeline for withdrawal by 30 September. The agreement also authorized the establishment of a UN-mandated force of Ethiopian peacekeepers (UNISFA) to be deployed there for six month to make time for the two neighbors to reach a settlement to the dispute over the border region. Abyei has been occupied by Sudan’s army since May following clashes allegedly instigated by southern troops. A spokesman for Sudan’s army (SAF) said on 30 September that their troops would remain in Abyei until UNISFA is fully deployed. The ambassador of the government of Sudan to the UN, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, told the UN Security Council on Thursday that their soldiers would “be pulled out.” Osman further said that Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir and South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir plan to meet on Saturday in Khartoum and would hopefully “solve all remaining problems.” He however stressed that the pullout must be “in concurrence with the completion of the deployment of Ethiopia forces to avoid a security vacuum.” UNISFA has managed to deploy 1,780 Ethiopian troops out of a full force of 4,200. Sudan’s ambassador acknowledged that their failure to withdrawal threatens to escalate tension in view of the onset of the migration season of the northern nomadic herders of Messiryah tribe and the need for the farmers displaced by the fighting to return and plant their crops. Meanwhile, South Sudan on Thursday called on the UNSC to set a deadline for Sudan to withdraw its troops from Abyei or be “held accountable.” David Buom Choat, South Sudan’s ambassador to the UN, told a UNSC meeting on Abyei that SAF “must now withdraw immediately and unconditionally from Abyei area.” "We respectfully request the council to set a deadline for this withdrawal, and to hold whoever violates the deadline accountable," he added. Choat further claimed that the South Sudan’s army (SPLA) had withdrawn from Abyei. The new chief of the UN peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, told the UNSC that neither Sudan nor South Sudan had withdrawn their forces from Abyei as promised. The dispute over Abyei is deeply rooted in faliure to implement the provisions of the 2005’s Comperhsnive Peace Agreement which ended more than two decades of civil wars between Sudan’s north-south halves and paved the way for South Sudan’s secession in July this year. Under the CPA, a referendum was supposed to be held in January this year to determine whether Abyei should join the north or the south. But the two sides failed to agree on criteria for eligibility to vote, with Khartoum insisting that Messiryah be allowed to participate while Juba said only the southern Dinka Ngok tribe should be allowed to vote. (ST) END2 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. 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