South Sudan says Khartoum “deliberately” delaying withdrawing from Abyei
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October 1, 2011 (JUBA) - South Sudan on Friday said Khartoum is
deliberately delaying the withdrawal of armed forces from the
contested oil region of Abyei, after Khartoum failed to withdraw its
troops by an agreed deadline.
JPEG - 12.4 kb
Luka Biong Deng, president of Kush Inc, testifies before House Foreign
Affairs Committee on —Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights
Subcommittee hearing on ’Southern Kordofan in Washington on August 4,
2011 (Getty)
In a statement on Friday, Luka Biong, a senior member of South Sudan’s
ruling SPLM also accused Khartoum of blocking the return of 110,000
people who had been displaced when Sudan’s military took control of
the area in May.
On Saturday a Sudanese government official in Khartoum confirmed to
AFP news agency that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) had not pulled out
of the volatile border region.
A referendum was supposed to decide the fate of the region in January
but it did not go ahead over Khartoum’s insistence that the Misseriya
tribe, who enter the area with their cattle for a few months each
year, be accorded full voting rights. South Sudan maintain that only
residents of the area, largely the South-aligned Dinka Ngok be allowed
to vote.
Speaking to AFP the official said that only after the Ethiopian
peacekeeping force (UNISFA) has been fully deployed, would SAF pull
out. According to the United Nations less than half have arrived so
far.
On 30 September South Sudanese and Sudanese officials were supposed to
hold a meeting of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC) but
Khartoum canceled. Biong said that this confirmed suspicions that
Khartoum did not intend to withdraw its forces from Abyei.
He said that Khartoum was "not keen in working with the Government of
South Sudan (GoSS) to bring a lasting peace to Abyei area, but in
continuing its occupation and ensuring that the Area’s true residents
never return”.
The meeting was originally scheduled for the September 17.
The senior member of the South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said the cancelation of the
meeting also conveniently coincided with the missed deadline for troop
withdrawal.
(ST)
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