afrol News, 17 July - The South Sudan People’s Liberation Movement has vowed to accept the arbitration decision to be made by the court in The Hague on the disputed Abyei region next Thursday, local media has reported.

Reports said SPLM Secretary General, Pagan Amum, said the movement will accept and work to implement the decision of the court.

The Hague is expected to announce the decision on the 22nd of this month to resolve the long dragging clashes that last year forced some 50,000 people to flee their homes and reportedly left 100 dead.

Reports further said the southern SPLM and the government in the north have been seeking a final and binding arbitration on the issue. The two sides began calls for the settlement of disputes after fresh fighting threatened the collapse of the CPA last year.

Under the CPA on the ensuing Abyei protocol, the south was granted a six-year transitional period of regional autonomy. The terms require the south and the Abyei region to hold referendums on their respective administrative status in 2011.

On 8 June, 2008, both Sudanese parties signed an agreement to break the three-year deadlock on the implementation of the Abyei Protocol forwarding the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

The two sides ended 22 years of conflict in 2005 but tension remains high, especially in the oil-rich region of Abyei, as the court ruling date approaches.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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