afrol News, 4 July - North and Southern Sudanese troops are withdrawing from the contested oil rich Abyei region in a bid to restore peace in the region on Friday.

Sudan's army and former southern rebels deployed forces in June under a joint command in Abyei region to foil clashes that erupted in the region which left 89 people dead with over 30 000 reported displaced in May.

The dispute over the region threatened to derail a three-year peace agreement in Sudan that ended two decades of civil war between north and south. The clash also sparked fears of a new civil war.

The southern rebels and Sudan government signed a peace deal on 8 June to establish a unity government but key issues were unresolved including the north-south boundary and the future of Abyei, coveted because of its oil resources and green fields used for grazing cattle.

A United Nations official said the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was on the move to the south and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) started to withdraw herding north today.

"There's no presence of SPLA in the area, we are outside," SPLA Major General Daniel Parnyang told reporters on Thursday, accusing the rival SAF of ignoring the 30 June deadline for withdrawal.

Mr Parnyang said there had been a misunderstanding over whether the forces were supposed to withdraw from the wider Abyei area or Abyei town. "The withdrawal is out of Abyei area but their forces are inside, ours are along the border, but outside," he said.

In another development SAF spokesperson hit out at SPLA for interfering in the business of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and First Vice-President Salva Kiir, who is the leader of the south.

"The SPLA did not withdraw their forces, they are only south of the Bahr al-Arab river, but the process for us is ongoing and gradual," said spokesperson.

Security in Abyei is supposed to be the responsibility of more than 600 combined troops who were deployed in the disputed district on 18 June.

North and south are still discussing who will make up an interim administration for Abyei but agreed on international arbitration to settle the dispute over who controls the oil-rich district.

In 2011, Abyei is to hold a referendum on whether to retain its special administrative status in the north or join the south, which could decide in a separate referendum to secede from the north.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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