SPLM and NCP Sign Agreement Establishing Interim Abyei Administration

June 9, 2008 (Khartoum) — President Omar Al-Bashir has signed an agreement establishing the joint SPLM and National Congress Party interim Abyei administration.

Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir signes Abyei roadmap agreement while FVP Salva Kiir and SVP Ali Osman Taha stands next to him from the right and the left, on June 8, 2008

As per the agreement signed on Sunday in Khartoum by President Bashir and his deputy Salva Kiir, the presidency is expected to appoint members of the interim administration within two weeks. The members of the interim administration shall be from the two communities in Abyei.

The presidency will provide funds to support the establishment of the Abyei administration as well as providing basic services to the people of Abyei.

The agreement also facilitates the return of the people displaced by last month’s fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the SPLA in Abyei.

The Government of National Unity, in conjunction with United Nations agencies and other international aid organizations, will provide funds to support the return of the displaced people to their homes in Abyei as well as provide them with food and medical services. It is not clear whether the government will help the displaced people build their homes which were burned during the fighting.

The agreement calls for the withdrawal of the Sudan Armed Forces and the SPLA soldiers that are not part of the joint integrated units from Abyei. The deal also lifts restrictions on the movement of United Nations peacekeepers and monitors in Abyei.

The two parties agreed to seek international arbitration in order to resolve the dispute over the Abyei Boundary Commission report within 6 months.

The President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, has welcomed the roadmap on Abyei saying it will boost the implementation of the Abyei protocol and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. He said the SPLM will support the establishment of the interim Abyei administration.

Abyei has been without a functioning administration for the last 3 years when President Bashir rejected the Abyei Boundary Report Commission in 2005, a pre-condition for the establishment of the Abyei administration.

In 2008, the SPLM appointed Edward Lino as Abyei administrator but the National Congress Party dismissed his appointment as a violation of the Abyei protocol.

According to the United Nations, over 90 thousand people were displaced from Abyei following last month’s heavy fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the SPLA.

About 22 SAFsoldiers were killed and over 1 hundred soldiers from both the SPLA and SAF were wounded during the fighting.