JUBA, April 29 (Reuters) – South Sudan has told the United
Nations it would withdraw all its police from the disputed Abyei
region, according to a letter from the country’s mission to the
world body.
South Sudan, embroiled in more than three weeks of border
fighting with its northern neighbour Sudan, also said it 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 dated April
28 and seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The United Nations has urged Sudan and South Sudan to
withdraw troops and police from the disputed region.
Both countries claim Abyei, a border region of fertile
grazing land, which Khartoum took last year after a southern
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.
Weeks of fighting along Sudan and South Sudan’s 1,800 km
(1,100 mile) contested border has brought the neighbours close
to a full-blown war.
The conflict, which escalated after the two failed to agree
on a string of disputes, has halted nearly all oil production in
both countries.
(Reporting by Yara Bayoumy)
