South Sudan withdraws 700 police from Abyei
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May 10, 2012 (JUBA) - South Sudan said on Thursday it has withdrawn a
significant number of its police forces from the contested border
region of Abyei, apparently in compliance with the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC) resolution endorsing African Union
recommendations.
JPEG - 13.4 kb
SPLA troops redeploy south from Abyei in central Sudan in 2008 (AFP)
As well as calling on both sides to remove their armed forces from
Abyei, the UNSC resolution also demanded that Juba and Khartoum return
to the negotiating table to resolve a number of issues that arose from
South Sudan’s independence last year.
“I witnessed today the event marking redeployment of 700 police
service out of Abyei," Luka Biong Deng, the South Sudanese Co-Chair of
the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.
He said the event was to comply and implement the decision of the
cabinet resolution which approved withdrawal of the South Sudan police
forces from the contested border region of Abyei in compliance with
the UNSC, which asked both country’s to withdraw from the area within
two weeks.
The event, he said, was attended by the commander of the United
Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, General Tadese Werede Tasfey
and Inspector General of South Sudan Police Service, General Acuil
Tito. Other officials who attended the event included Acting Chief
Administrator and traditional leaders from the area.
Abyei was to have held a referendum to decide whether it would join
South Sudan or remain north of the border in January 2011.
Disagreement over who could vote has meant that the plebiscite has
been delayed indefinitely with Juba insisting that the
southern-aligned Dinka-Ngok are the only group resident in the area,
while Khartoum maintains that the nomadic Misseriya tribe who enter
the region with their cattle for much of the year should also be
accorded full voting rights.
In May 2011 Abyei was forcibly occupied by the Sudan Armed Forces
(SAF), displacing over 100,000 people, most of which are yet to
return, in response to an attack on a convoy leaving the area.
Senior officials of the South Sudan’s governing Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM) expressed disappointment over the apparent
reluctance of Sudanese government to consider withdrawing from Abyei
despite the fact that the deadline given by the UNSC and the African
Union is drawing closer without signs of withdrawal.
South Sudan’s announcement that it would withdraw from Abyei came
shortly after it withdrew from Heglig, another disputed area adjacent
to Abyei after occupying it for 10 days in April.
Much of the Sudan-South Sudan border has not been demarcated and
various areas are claimed by both countries. Fighting over the
oil-rich Heglig area raised fears of a return to all-out war and drew
strong international condemnation.
Juba has complained that the criticism it received was stronger than
the rebuke given to Khartoum for occupying Abyei last year and various
air attacks on South Sudanese territory. Khartoum accuses South Sudan
of backing rebels in its territory.
Biong said some "criminals" from the Missiriya were stealing cattle
from some members of the Dinka Ngok who have returned to areas North
East of Abyei town.
“By the time our police forces are being redeployed, the cattle of
Ngok Dinka are being stolen by some criminals from Arab nomads and
Sudan has not shown any sign of redeploying its forces from Abyei
area”, said Biong.
He, however, said the Ethiopian peacekeeping forces of the United
Nations have managed to retrieve some of the stolen cattle but that a
lot remains to be traced and recovered once identified.
(ST)
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