Troops quit Sudan trouble spot

2008-07-04 17:14

Juba, Sudan - Rival troops from north and south Sudan are withdrawing from the contested trouble spot of Abyei, but traded barbs on Friday over the departure required under a blueprint to restore peace.

A UN official said the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army was on the move south and that the Sudan Armed Forces started to withdraw on Friday.

"There's no presence of SPLA in the area, we are outside," SPLA Major General Daniel Parnyang told reporters on Thursday, accusing the rival SAF of ignoring the June 30 deadline to withdraw.

Fighting between SAF and SPLA troops in May killed at least 89 people and displaced more than 30 000. Southern politicians have demanded SAF commanders be taken to court for alleged crimes against humanity.

Under the June 8 roadmap agreement between former enemies, north and south, a joint integrated military unit was to deploy in Abyei and restore security after fighting sparked fears of a new civil war.

Parnyang said there had been misunderstanding over whether the forces were supposed to withdraw from the wider Abyei area.

Interim administration

"The withdrawal is out of Abyei area - their forces are inside, ours are along the border, but outside," he said.

But a SAF spokesperson hit out at the SPLA for "interfering" in the business of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir and first vice president Salva Kiir, who is the leader of the south. The two men signed the June 8 agreement.

"The SPLA did not withdraw their forces. They are only south of the Bahr al-Arab river. The process of (us) withdrawing is ongoing and gradual," the spokesperson said.

Security in Abyei is supposed to be the responsibility of more than 600 combined troops who began deploying to the disputed district on June 18.

North and south are still discussing who will make up an interim administration for Abyei, but agreed on international arbitration to settle the dispute over who controls the oil-rich district.

In 2011, Abyei is to hold a referendum on whether to retain its special administrative status in the north or join the south, which could decide in a separate referendum to secede from the north.

- SAPA