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June 14, 2011 (JUBA) – The African Union sponsored negotiations conducted in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Sudan’s Abyei crisis has ended without any agreement, according to a senior official of the South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
- Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (R) speaks with African leaders during the Africa Panel high-level talks in Addis Ababa June 12, 2011 (Reuters)
The President of Sudan and chairman of the National Congress Party (NCP), Omer Hassan Al-Bashir and his First Vice President, President of the semi autonomous South Sudan - SPLM chairman - Salva Kiir on Sunday and Monday met in the Ethiopian capital under the auspices of the AU High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), chaired by the former South African president, Thabo Mbeki.
Upon Kiir’s arrival at Juba International Airport from Addis Ababa today, the minister in the office of the President, Cirino Hiteng, said that no agreement has been reached over Abyei by the two parties contrary to reports that have circulated in the media.
Reuters reported Sunday an anonymous diplomat as saying that Bashir had agreed to withdraw the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) from the disputed border territory of Abyei and approved the deployment of Ethiopian troops to the area.
On Monday an AU spokesperson said that a deal had been reached to demilitarize the disputed fertile and oil-producing region and to deploying Ethiopian peace-keepers to in the area.
Hiteng said the SPLM had demanded SAF’s unconditional withdrawal from Abyei and replacement with Ethiopian troops representing the UN.
The southern minister said that the NCP insisted that a brigade of its forces would remain in the contested region. The North also wanted a new administration established in Abyei that is split 50/50 with the SPLM while the chief administrator would be nominated by the NCP.
After the northern military (SAF) took over Abyei on May 21, Bashir dissolved the Abyei administration without informing Kiir - an act South Sudan says is in contravention of the peace deal the two sides signed in 2005. The north says that its occupation of Abyei was in response to two attacks on SAF convoys by southern armed groups near the area.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended over two decades of civil war and allowed South Sudan to secede through a referendum in January. However, Abyei’s own plebiscite to determine whether or not it would join the south did not go ahead due to disputes over who was allowed to vote.
The talks in Addis Ababa were seen as key to resolving the Abyei dispute ahead of South Sudan’s independence celebrations on July 9, to which Bashir has been invited.
However, despite the positive early reports and encouragement from US secretary of state Hilary Clinton no agreement appears to have reached.
“In short there was no agreement on Abyei,” Hiteng told the press upon return from the talks.
Hiteng explained that Clinton, told the two sides to forget about the Abyei administration and focus on the security arrangements in the area until the region conducts its referendum.
The SPLM official said the two parties will continue to hold further talks and try to reach an agreement on Abyei crisis and the ongoing fighting between SAF and its allied militia and northern members of the SPLA - the military wing of the SPLM - in South Kordofan.
In Khartoum the government sponsored Sudanese Media Center (SMC) website quoted an army source as saying that the North has no intention of withdrawing from Abyei.
The unnamed military source said that there is no reason for SAF to pull out after establishing full control over the region and extending stability and security to the citizens there.
He also denied reports claiming that Bashir has agreed to withdraw from the contested area.
"Mr. president [Bashir] made it clear that SAF would stay in Abyei and not withdraw because it is Northern [land]" the source said.
However he revealed that talks on the deployment of Ethiopian forces is still being discussed.
Agence France Presse (AFP) said that talks in Addis Ababa are still ongoing between North and South delegations.
(ST)
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