Kampala — A court on Wednesday redrew the boundaries of Sudan's disputed oil-producing Abyei region, ceding key oilfields to north Sudan in a decision hailed as a resolution to a long-standing territorial conflict.

Leaders from north and south Sudan pledged to respect the ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague as more than 1,000 people danced through the streets of Abyei to celebrate the decision.

But analysts said there was still a risk of a return to conflict over the central Abyei district, as the implications of the complex Hague ruling sank in among northern and southern supporters and communities who live in the area.

The borders of Abyei were one of the most sensitive issues left undecided in a 2005 peace accord that ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan's mostly Christian south and its Muslim north.

The north's dominant National Congress Party (NCP) rejected one boundary drawn up by a panel of experts later in 2005. Tensions mounted until northern and southern troops clashed in Abyei town in May last year, killing up to 100 people and forcing tens of thousands of residents to flee.

Both sides later agreed to refer the issue to the Hague court which on Wednesday decided to adjust the boundaries drawn up by the 2005 panel, pulling in its borders to the north, east and west. Maps of the new boundary published in The Hague leave the area's key Heglig and Bamboo oilfields outside Abyei, placing them in the north Sudan district of Southern Kordofan.

"We think about a minimum of 10,000 square kilometres have been returned to the north. Most importantly this territory includes the disputed oilfields," said, Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed, representing north Sudan's National Congress Party at The Hague.

The Abyei dispute also has ramifications for Darfur, with analysts warning if violence returns to Abyei, peace and stability in Sudan, including Darfur, will be increasingly difficult to obtain.

"I think one of the problems, especially with the government in Khartoum, has been a history of making commitments and then not fulfilling them and not being held to account. And Abyei is an important test in that regard," said Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition.

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The borders of Abyei are particularly important because Abyei residents were promised a referendum in 2011 on whether to become part of southern Sudan. At the same time, south Sudan as a whole has also been promised a referendum on whether to split off as a separate country.

Wednesday's ruling gave Abyei the bulk of the region that was defined in 2005, including Abyei town, huge areas of fertile land and, according to maps of the new area produced by the United Nations, the Diffra oilfield.