afrol News, 16 June - Sudan has deployed a joint northern and southern battalion in the disputed oil-rich town of Abeyi region to foil clashes that have displaced over 50,000 people in the past month.

A joint South and Northern Sudanese battalion made of 640 soldiers is part of a recent security arrangement signed between Khartoum-based President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) over control of Abeyi territory.

Authorities in Khartoum and the southern Sudanese autonomous government agreed on 8 June to set up a joint administration in Abyei, with SPLM and NCP and also agreeing to settle the last issues of border demarcation.

Colonel Valentino Tokmac said deployment of troops is expected to be completed by 18 June though they were forced to delay their departure due to lack of airplanes to transport them to Abeyi. "I hope everything will go as planned,'' Mr Tokmac said.

He stated there was now stability in Abyei and that this would enable smooth a transition towards final peace, adding that Sudan needed a symbol of unity.

Abyei's borders were left undefined in a 2005 peace deal, which ended 21 years of civil war in Sudan, but last month clashes in Abyei by north and southern troops had sparked fears of another civil war in the country.

South Sudanese ex-rebels clashed with Sudan Armed Forces in the oil-rich town of Abyei last month. The fighting devastated the market area, destroyed houses and resulted in serious looting, where 60 people were also killed.

The Abyei region's oil fields have remained under control of the authorities in northern Sudan.

Oil production around the region has declined, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in an October 2007 report. Fields in Abyei area accounted for about 8 percent of Sudan's total output in 2007, down from a quarter in 2003.

Most of Sudan's 500,000 barrels a day in oil production is pumped in the south. The peace accord gives the government in southern Sudan 50 percent of that revenue.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories