UN Secretary-General Ban welcomes Abyei agreement

UN Secretary-General Ban welcomes Abyei agreement

2011-06-21 05:05:29 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday welcomed the agreement on Abyei by Sudan and Southern Sudan which was signed earlier in the day, effectively ending the conflict which recently began.

According to his spokesperson Martin Nesirky, the Secretary-General called on the two sides to abide in full by its provisions to demilitarize the area of Abyei and establish an administration and police service in the disputed Abyei area.

Furthermore, Ban urged both Sudan and Southern Sudan to provide full cooperation to the United Nations and Ethiopia in deploying peacekeeping troops and police to the area to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

"The Secretary-General thanks the African Union High Level Panel under former President Mbeki and Prime Minister Meles of Ethiopia for their efforts in facilitating the agreement with the support of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)," Nesirky said.

Abyei has been the scene to fighting between the Southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in recent weeks. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), nearly 113,000 people have been displaced from the region due to the violence.

The fighting began after the referendum on Abyei's status never took place amidst disagreements on voter eligibility. The referendum was seen as the culminating point of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which officially ended the long north-south civil war in Sudan.

The north and south continue disputing over of the conflicted area. Earlier this year, millions of Southern Sudan residents voted in favor of separating from the rest of the African nation next July.

"The Secretary-General calls on the parties concerned to continue to provide their full cooperation to the African Union in reaching agreement on all outstanding issues related to the CPA and post-secession arrangement and provide their full cooperation to humanitarian agencies in meeting the needs of the affected population," concluded Nesirky.

On June 3, the UN Security Council demanded the Sudanese Armed Forces to withdraw from Abyei and an immediate halt to all looting, burning, and illegal resettlement. The Council said that the presence of SAF troops represented a serious violation of previous agreements, including the 2005 CPA.

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