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| Africa Horn | |
| UN urges Sudan's immediate pullout from Abyei | |
| 2011-06-05 | |
There has been no agreement on which country the oil-producing region should belong to when south Sudan becomes independent on July 9, but the northern military seized it on May 21, sparking fears of a renewed civil war. "The council demands that the government of Sudan withdraw immediately from the Abyei area," said a unanimous formal council statement read out at Friday's meeting of the 15-nation body by Gabon Ambassador Nelson Messone, this month's president. The north's move into Abyei followed an attack the day before on northern troops and UN peacekeepers that the Security Council itself has said was carried out by southern forces. The council has already deplored that attack. But in its statement on Friday, the council condemned Khartoum's continued maintenance of military control over Abyei, which it called a "serious violation" of north-south peace accords. The two parts of Sudan ended a 20-year civil war in 2005 and southerners voted for independence in January. The council said that failure by Khartoum to comply with the 2005 peace deal could undermine benefits it was due to receive. However, The essential However... it did not elaborate. The council's statement was held up for several days by disagreements between member states over how toughly it should be worded, diplomats said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |