* Sudanese leader declares emergency in some border areas
* Clashing announcements after UN appeal to halt conflict
By Yara Bayoumy
JUBA, April 29 (Reuters) – South Sudan has told the United
Nations it will pull all police out of a disputed region
bordering Sudan and is committed to halting all fighting with
its northern neighbour, but Khartoum declared a state of
emergency in some border areas.
The conflicting developments on Sunday raised questions
whether United Nations appeals for an end to more than three
weeks of border clashes between Sudan and South Sudan would bear
fruit and avert full-blown war in an oil-producing region.
South Sudan, which gained independence from Sudan nine
months ago under a 2005 settlement, informed the United Nations
that it planned to withdraw all police from the Abyei region,
according to a letter from Juba’s mission to the world body.
The letter, dated April 28 and seen by Reuters on Sunday,
also said South Sudan was committed to an “immediate cessation
of all hostilities” – after the African Union ordered both
parties to stop fighting.
The decision to withdraw from Abyei was taken at a cabinet
meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir on Saturday.
“All of these acts of peace are being done to reaffirm and
demonstrate with concrete measures my government’s true
commitment to finding a peaceful solution to the outstanding
matters with the Republic of Sudan,” said the letter.
But in Khartoum, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir
declared a state of emergency in some areas of South Kordofan,
White Nile and Sinnar provinces bordering South Sudan, a
state-linked media website said. It gave no further details.
The United Nations has urged Sudan and South Sudan to
withdraw troops and police from disputed regions along their
1,800 km (1,100 mile) frontier in northeast Africa.
The conflict, which escalated after the two failed to agree
on a string of disputes, has halted nearly all oil production in
both countries, damaging their shaky economies.
South Sudan’s army seized the contested Heglig oilfield
earlier this month but announced a withdrawal more than a week
ago, bowing to U.N. pressure.
Both countries claim Abyei, a border region of fertile
grazing land. Khartoum took it over last year after a South
Sudanese attack on an army convoy, triggering the exodus of tens
of thousands of civilians.
South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July, six months after a
referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal that ended two decades
of civil war which killed more than 2 million people. A similar
vote was originally planned for Abyei, but was never held as
both sides have not been able to agree on who can participate.
There are 3,800 U.N. peacekeepers in Abyei after the
Security Council authorised the deployment in June last year.
On Saturday, Sudan said it had arrested a Briton, a
Norwegian and a South African, accusing them of illegally
entering Heglig to spy for its adversary South Sudan.
South Sudanese officials denied the allegations and said the
men were working with the United Nations and aid groups clearing
mines and had got lost in the remote territory.
(Additional reporting by Ulf Laessing in Khartoum; Writing by
Mark Heinrich; Editing by Jon Boyle)
