Abyei peace deal announced

Northern and southern Sudan have agreed a deal to withdraw all their troops from the disputed border region of Abyei to make way for a new temporary administration backed by Ethiopian peacekeepers.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki announced the deal to the UN Security Council after days of negotiation in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

"The SPLM [the southern Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement] and the [northern] Sudanese government have signed an agreement on Abyei," said Mbeki.

"It provides for the demilitarisation of Abyei so that the Sudanese armed forces would withdraw and for the deployment of Ethiopian forces,” he said.

The deal was quickly endorsed by world powers eager to see a resolution of the crisis that has forced 100,000 people from their homes since the north occupied Abyei in May, just weeks before the south is due to celebrate its independence.

“The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement on Abyei… [and] calls on all the parties to abide in full by its provisions to demilitarize the area and establish an administration and police service and to provide their full cooperation to the UN and Ethiopia in deploying peacekeeping troops and police to the area,” said a statement from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Ban added that hostilities must end immediately in the neighbouring state of South Korodfan where 60,000 have been forced from their homes amid allegations of ethnic cleansing levelled against Khartoum’s forces. There is little sign of a deal there.

Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN, said she would immediately draft a resolution authorising the deployment of Ethiopian peacekeepers to Abyei.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a cautious welcome to Mbeki’s announcement.

“The agreement signed today is an important first step – but the real test of the parties’ commitment will be the full implementation of its provisions in the coming days,” Clinton said.

“I urge all parties to follow through on their commitment to withdraw their military forces and take steps to facilitate the return of the tens of thousands of people displaced by recent fighting,” she said.

Ethiopia is due to deploy a brigade, roughly 4,000 troops, to Abyei as soon as Security Council authorisation is approved. Mbeki said he hoped this would be done by the end of the month, ahead of the south’s independence on 9 July.