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S. Sudan says ready to pull out of disputed Abyei

28 April 2012 19:32 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. South Sudan said Saturday it was ready to pull out of the contested Abyei region to meet an African Union demand but accused Sudan of failing its own commitments by backing southern rebels, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.

The former civil war foes have been on the brink of a return to conflict for weeks, with control of oil fields and revenues crucial to both the world’s newest nation and the rump state in the north.

With both sides facing a three-month ultimatum from the AU to settle their row, South Sudan received a boost from China in the shape of eight billion dollars in loan to build much-needed infrastructure.

"It will fund roads, bridges, hydropower, agriculture and telecommunications projects... within the next two years," a spokesman said, giving details of a visit this week to China by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir.

"Details (of the projects) will be defined by the ministers of the two countries and by the Chinese firms in charge of the work," Barnaba Marial Benjamin added.

Khartoum warned against any UN Security Council involvement, with observers expecting China -- the main buyer of Sudanese oil, which is produced mainly in the south but exported by the north -- to step up and broker peace.

Among the AU’s demands is a bilateral troop withdrawal from the contested oil-producing area of Abyei, an area whose status was left unresolved when a six-year peace agreement expired last year and the south acquired statehood.

"The minister of interior will enhance the withdrawal of South Sudan’s police force from Abyei... as long as the UN and AU will look after its citizens in the area", South Sudan government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin spokesman said.

Around 110,000 people from the southern Dinka Ngok tribe have found refuge in the south after fleeing recent fighting in Abyei, where some 4,000 Ethiopian UN peacekeepers are now deployed.

The Lebanon-sized region remains under the control of some 300 Sudanese troops however, with some 700 South Sudanese police forces scattered on the periphery.

Juba also accused Khartoum of scuppering peace efforts by backing an attack near the city of Malakal conducted by southern rebels fighting Kiir’s regime.

"It was Sudan-supported militias that attacked SPLA (South Sudan army) positions" on Friday, army spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer told AFP. He said his forces repulsed the attack, with an unknown number of casualties.

But the rebels claimed in a statement that the "South Sudan Democratic Army (SSDA) launched Operation Ending Corruption and surrounded Malakal... and captured its surroundings."

The Security Council on Thursday started talks on a resolution that could allow sanctions against Sudan and South Sudan if they do not meet AU demands.

A resolution drafted by the United States backs the AU decision and calls for the two sides to "immediately" halt hostilities and pull their forces back into their own territory.

The text says the Security Council would review the rivals’ implementation of AU demands and could "take appropriate additional measures" under Article 41 of Chapter VII of the UN charter that allows for sanctions but not military force.

On Tuesday, the AU’s security body adopted a roadmap calling for an end to fighting, including aerial bombardments.

"Since they (Sudan) cannot bomb us, they are arming and sending militias and mercenaries now," Benjamin said.

Sudan has made similar allegations over attacks carried out by groups on its own territory. Both sides deny supporting each other’s rebels.

Khartoum said it had confidence in the AU mediation effort led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki but warned against UN sanctions.

"Sudan confirms that it rejects any efforts to disturb the African Union role and take the situation between Sudan and South Sudan to the UN Security Council," Foreign Minister Ali Karti said.

The AU roadmap urged both sides to withdraw troops from the other’s territory, stop supporting rebel groups and refrain from making "inflammatory" public statements.

A Sudanese army spokesman said four foreigners investigating debris from recent fighting in the Heglig oilfield area had been detained. He identified them as a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese.

"We captured them inside Sudan’s borders, in the Heglig area, and they were collecting war debris for investigation," he said.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in July last year after a peace deal ended one of Africa’s longest civil wars, which killed about two million people.

Tensions have risen over a series of unresolved issues including the border, the future of disputed territories and oil.

"The terrible lessons of war seem to have been forgotten already," said Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who chairs a group of independent global leaders called The Elders.