SUDAN AND SOUTH SUDAN GIVEN 06
MONTHS TO CREATE JOINT MONITORING FORCE IN DISPUTED AREA.
In an effort to reduce the number of United Nations
peacekeeping force, Sudan and South Sudan have been given six month by the
Security Council to agree and put in place a joint monitoring force in a
disputed region on the border between the two countries, the UN announced
yesterday.
In a statement, the UNSC said the peacekeeping mission in
Abyei, which has been in place since 2011 had already been reduced from 5,326
troops to 4,791 following a decision by the council to reduce its spending in
the area.
The statement also called on the two sides to uphold
commitments to resume border demarcation talks. In July 2009, the Permanent
Court of Arbitration in The Hague shrunk the disputed area and placed the
Heglig oil field under the control of the Sudanese government but did not finalize
the demarcation of a defined border between to two nations.
The UN threatened to reduce or withdraw the peacekeeping
mission if the two sides delayed the installation of joint forces any longer.
South Sudan’s ambassador, Joseph Moum Malok, told the council that the UN
peacekeeping mission “is the best thing that has happened to Abyei in its long
history of struggle” toward promoting peace and stability.
He warned that withdrawal of UN support “will negatively
impact” on the implementation of the agreement between the two countries “by
emboldening each side to take a more combative posture along the border.”
Sudan’s Charge d’affaires, Magdi Ahmed Mofadal, told the
council that in order to activate the border monitoring mechanism, South Sudan
must keep its commitments “in order to create the safe, demilitarized border
zone.”
He said the Sudanese government is committed to
implementing the decisions of political meetings that were held on Abyei held
in Addis Ababa on Sunday and Monday. He expressed hope that they “will
constitute a new start to normalize relations between the two countries, and to
address any concerns, especially security concerns”, Mofadal said.
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