The UN expressed concern about the presence of former Southern Sudanese rebels in a contested oil-rich area near the border with the north, raising fears of violence days ahead of a key court decision on the region’s boundaries.
Recurrent fighting between the north and south in Abyei region has strained a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war in which 2 million people died. The region is located just north of the disputed boundary line with Southern Sudan, but both sides claim it as their own.
The UN representative to Sudan, Ashraf Qazi, said on Saturday that he had received several reports in the past few weeks that the former SPLA rebels and police are present in Abyei. Their presence is in violation of an agreement struck between the north and south last year to let a special tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands, decide Abyei’s boundaries.
“This is a clear violation of the Abyei Roadmap Agreement and could lead to escalation and violence if it remained unchecked,” Qazi said.
Pagan Amum, the secretary-general of the ruling political party in the south, dismissed Qazi’s concerns, saying the forces present in the region were there to protect the southern president, who was visiting nearby, and left afterward.
“There are no forces for the SPLA or southern police in the Abyei area,” he said in a statement sent by e-mail to reporters.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his regular report to the Security Council on July 14 that the south had made similar complaints about the presence of forces affiliated with the north in Abyei, which contains a significant percentage of Sudan’s oil and important grazing areas.
Under the Abyei agreement, only joint forces from the north and south can be present in the region. Qazi said the UN was looking at scaling up its presence in Abyei, but complained that the peacekeeping force’s movement was being restricted. He didn’t blame a particular side.
The two sides negotiated the agreement after a major outbreak of violence in May last year. Soldiers from the north and south clashed for more than a week in the town of Abyei, burning it to the ground and sending its 50,000 residents fleeing. At least 22 northern soldiers were killed.
The tribunal in the Hague is scheduled to announce Abyei’s boundaries tomorrow, but many are worried violence could follow the court’s decision. The north rejected the boundaries drawn by a panel of experts in 2005, claiming they had exceeded their mandate.
The tension over Abyei will come to a head in 2011, when the southern Sudanese are scheduled under the 2005 peace treaty to hold a referendum to decide whether to secede from the north or remain united. Abyei residents will hold a separate referendum to decide whether to join the north or south.
There are concerns that the kind of violence that struck the town of Abyei last year could flare up at any point in this process. The administrator of Abyei region, Mayak Arop, said less than half of Abyei town’s resident’s have returned because they fear a resumption of fighting.
He said that although the court will determine Abyei’s boundaries, friction between the north and south is still likely.
“My main concern is security,” Arop said.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
PINEAPPLE DEBATE: While the owners of the pizzeria dislike pineapple on pizza, a survey last year showed that over 50% of Britons either love or like the topping A trendy pizzeria in the English city of Norwich has declared war on pineapples, charging an eye-watering ￡100 (US$124) for a Hawaiian in a bid to put customers off the disputed topping. Lupa Pizza recently added pizza topped with ham and pineapple to its account on a food delivery app, writing in the description: “Yeah, for ￡100 you can have it. Order the champagne too! Go on, you monster!” “[We] vehemently dislike pineapple on pizza,” Lupa co-owner Francis Wolf said. “We feel like it doesn’t suit pizza at all,” he said. The other co-owner, head chef Quin Jianoran, said they kept tinned pineapple
RSS