Sudan: Abyei Community Protests Sudan Defiance to Withdraw Troops

| May 28, 2012 | 0 Comments

Juba — Hundred of citizens from the contested region of Abyei demonstrated across South Sudan and in the United States on Monday, according to an official from the area, in protest at the failure of the Sudanese government to withdraw troops from the area.

A resolution from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on May 2, as per a roadmap laid out by the African Union, called for both Sudan and South Sudan to withdraw armed forces from the area.

Abyei, an oil-producing fertile area, is claimed by both sides. A referendum was due to be held in January 2011 to determine it’s status but the vote did got go ahead due to disagreement over who could vote.

A year ago Sudan‘s army took control of the area, just two months before South Sudan‘s independence. A subsequent agreement has seen the deployment of a Ethiopian peacekeepers to the area under a UN chapter seven mandate.

The main purpose of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) was to demilitarise the area. Last week the UN confirmed that South Sudan had withdrawn it’s 700 members of South Sudan police forces.

Sudan was called on to do the same, by the UNSC and AU, but

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Category: South Sudan News