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Joint Sudan force deploys to Abyei

Details: Created on Thursday, 19 June 2008 21:04; Written by Pachodo.org News Room

Source: Gulf Times

KHARTOUM: Combined troops from north and south Sudan deployed yesterday to the disputed Abyei oil district, charged with restoring security after fighting in the area sparked fears of a new civil war.
“Yes, we are now in Abyei,” force commander Colonel Valentino Tokmac said in Khartoum by telephone. “We are receiving the forces,” he added.

He expected all 600 plus troops from the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the northern Sudanese army to arrive shortly in the contested border district between the two former warring partners.
The deployment of the so-called Joint Integrated Unit of around a battalion of troops was a key part of a road map agreement hammered out 10 days ago by coalition partners and former enemies, the north and south.
The troops had initially been due to arrive in the war-torn district on Monday, where dozens were killed and up to 50,000 displaced by fighting in May that threatened a return to Sudan’s two-decade civil war.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir signed an agreement aimed at bringing peace to the disputed oil district with former rebel leader and First Vice President Salva Kiir on June 8.
Besides allowing for the return of those displaced by the fighting in Abyei, the agreement provides for the establishment of an interim administration and international arbitration of the core dispute over control of the district. – AFP