Details of the agreement are yet to be worked out.
The agreement was reached after two days of talks between Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent secessesion, and attempted to
ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
and Salva Kiir, the respective leaders of Sudan's north and south, according to Barney Afako, a front man for the former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, who is helping lead the negotiations.
"The parties have agreed to the idea that the Abyei area should be demilitarised and they agreed in principal that the southern and the northern forces are to pull out of the area," Afako said on Monday.
The political status of Abyei and issues such as oil revenues are yet to be discussed, Afako said.
To assist with the demilitarisation, the Ethiopian government offered to send in troops to oversee security so that civilians who decamped can return, he said.
Engaged in negotiations
Afako emphasised that the two parties are still engaged in negotiations and that many details remain to be agreed on.
Commenting on the development, Rabie Abdul Atti, a member of Sudan's ruling National Congress Party, told Al Jizz: "The agreement will happen before July 9, in the condition that SPLM will not have any existence in Abyei, the new forces should be under the UN.
"This will pave the way for the presidency to perform its function in Abyei and for the referendum or any other political solutions with SPLM."
Earlier on Monday
Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Edmund Randolph...
, the US secretary of state, said the US wants to see northern troops withdraw from Abyei and would welcome Ethiopian peacekeepers being sent in.
"We would welcome both parties agreeing to ask Ethiopia, which has volunteered to send peacekeepers and to do so as part of a United Nations
...an organization whose definition of
human rightsis interesting, to say the least...
mission that will be strengthened," she said in Tanzania.
"The United States has made our view very clearly known to both President Bashir and Vice-President Kiir and I am looking forward to hearing positive news out of their ongoing discussions."