AFRICA/SUDAN- An agreement has been reached for the demilitarization of Abyei, but concern remains for Southern Kordofan

Khartoum (Fides Service) - North and South Sudan have reached an agreement on the disputed region of Abyei, on the border between the two areas, which was occupied by the military in Khartoum on 21 May (see Fides 25/5/2011). The agreement, reached through the offices of the former South African President Thabo Mbeki (mediator sent by the African Union), foresees the dispatch of 4,000 Ethiopian Blue Berets in Abyei, withdrawal of troops from Khartoum and the demilitarization of the area. The 4,000 Blue Berets will be deployed in a wide area of about 10,000 sq km while the UN mission in Sudan has 10,000 troops in an area of 2 and a half million square kilometers. The crisis in Abyei has forced about 60,000 people to escape from their homes, who live in poor conditions, aggravated by the rains that continue to strike the region.
The other crises that opposes north and south Sudan remains open (which will officially declare independence on July 9, sanctioned by the referendum held last January), that of South Kordofan, where troops have occupied the north of the capital, Kadugli, and continue to bomb the surrounding areas, particularly the Nuba Mountains. Even in this case tens of thousands of people are fleeing, without assistance, because of the violence.
Abyei and Southern Kordofan are important both as a transit area for nomadic shepherds (moving from north to south and vice versa) and for the presence of oil. Abyei's fate should have been decided by a separate referendum which should have taken place simultaneously with the independence of southern Sudan. But the contrasts on the composition of the referendum lists have prevented its development. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 06/21/2011)