KHARTOUM(August
11,2008) -
Sudan's former north-south foes have agreed on an administration
for the disputed oil-producing Abyei region where clashes this year
had threatened to derail a 2005 peace deal, officials said on Friday.
Clashes in Abyei in May killed scores and drove 50,000 from their
homes. Abyei is home to oil wells that have fuelled an economic boom
in Sudan, Africa's biggest country.
After the fighting in May, the two sides agreed to a roadmap to resolve
the crisis with a joint force to patrol there and discussions on how
the region would be run.
"We can state confidently that we have managed to finally clear
this hurdle in the way of implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,"
northern National Congress Party (NCP) official Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed
told Reuters.
A senior former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM) official, Yasir Arman, confirmed the agreement.
Ahmed said Arop Moyak would head the local government for the SPLM
and his deputy Rahma Abdelrahman would be the NCP representative.
Moyak is from the Dinka Ngok which traditionally inhabit the region
and Abdelrahman is from the nomadic Misseriya tribe. There had been
differences over whether the Misseriya were Abyei residents.
They would decide the rest of the local government within two weeks
to be approved by the presidency.
The north-south peace deal in 2005 ended Africa's longest civil war,
shared power and wealth, enshrined democratic transformation and created
separate north and south armies.
The south and Abyei will be able vote in 2011 on possible secession
so which tribes are resident is a key issue.
Last month the northern army said it had withdrawn the last of its
troops from Abyei leaving joint north-south army units in charge of
security for the first time.
Ahmed said he now expected the presidency to avail the necessary resources
to the administration and he hoped the population would now return
to their homes.
Almost 50,000 fled the May violence which saw most of Abyei town burn
to the ground.
Agreement
on the administration ended years of deadlock over Abyei and was
the last remaining part of the roadmap to be implemented.
The
issue of Abyei's borders has been referred to The Hague-based Permanent
Court for Arbitration for final decision.
The head of the international body tasked with monitoring the north-south
deal, Derek Plumbly, praised the agreement after "very delicately
balanced negotiations."
"This was the main single outstanding element in the roadmap
that was agreed after the fighting in May," he told Reuters.
"It means that the donor community will be able to move in
and support the return of the people and support the administration
in reconstruction," he added.
Some 2 million people died in Sudan's north-south war. It is separate
from the Darfur conflict in the west of the country.
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