Photo: Isaac Billy/UN Photo Khartoum/Wau — Sudan President Omer Al-Bashir and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir Mayardit managed, after another round of marathon talks on Wednesday, to strike a deal on border security issues but failed to do likewise on contested border regions including Abyei.
The partial deal was confirmed by both countries following the sixth closed-door meeting between the two leaders in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, which has been hosting the summit for the past five days under the mediation of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP).
Sources on both sides told Sudan Tribune that the issue of establishing a demilitarized zone along the unmarked 1,800-km common borders has been resolved after the two countries agreed to redeploy their troops out of the 10 kilometers-buffer zone which includes the “Mile 14” area, a disputed territory occupying 23 kilometers between Western Bahr El-Ghazal State in South Sudan and East Darfur State in Sudan.
Under the deal, South Sudan army known as SPLA should withdraw from six areas it controls along the borders, including “Mile 14”. Sudan army will also withdraw from “Mile 14” which, also under the deal, will revert back to being run through a traditional and joint administration system between Al-Riziygat Arab tribe of Darfur and Dinka Mulawl of South Sudan until such time that the area’s final status is determined.
The establishment of a buffer zone will enable the two countries to implement a deal they reached in August but not signed yet to resume exporting South Sudan oil via Sudan and help their contracting economies after an eight-month hiatus that saw the two neighbors fighting a brief war in April around border oilfields.
It also means great logistical difficulty for both of them to engage in supporting each others’ rebel groups across the border.
Sources told Sudan Tribune that the last hours of the meeting between Al-Bashir and Kiir on Wednesday had witnessed exchanges of tough language between the two leaders in the presence of AUHIP mediators including its chief and former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
According to sources, Al-Bashir reacted angrily to Salva Kiir when the latter insisted that the SPLA would only withdraw 10 kilometers outside of “Mile 14”, telling him “we ceded the whole south for you and you’re refusing to withdraw from [few] kilometers”
Sudanese government sources also told Sudan Tribune that President Al-Bashir is expected to travel back to Khartoum as soon as the summit concludes today.
The deal, due to be signed today, includes eight protocols on border security arrangements, oil, economic and trade issues, and the four freedoms agreement which will allow citizens of each country the freedoms of movement, property ownership, work and residence in the other country.
The implementation of those protocols should come into effect after being endorsed by the parliaments of both countries.
South Sudan Information Minister and official spokesperson, Barnaba Marial, said on Wednesday that "significant steps" had been made at the talks and agreements were reached on most of the outstanding issues.
The official confirmed that the “four-freedom” issue had already been settled. He added that only “small details” on the oil deal are left for further talks.
The two countries also agreed to implement the demarcation of their agreed borders which, according to sources from both sides, represent 80 percent of the border strip. The remaining 20 percent represents five disputed territories which are: Hofrat Al-Nuhas, Mile 14, Kaka Al-Tigaria, Al-Muqaines, and Goda.
The final status of these disputed regions will be determined either through political agreements or international arbitration.
NO AGREEMENT ON ABYEI
On the issue of Abyei, the key disputed region, no agreement was reached after Sudan strongly rejected the AUHIP proposal on holding a referendum by October 2013 to determine the final status of the area.
Whereas Juba accepted the proposal, which was handed to the two parties on 21 September, Khartoum said in a letter sent to the AUHIP that it “categorically rejects the proposal in its entirety”
Sudan based its objection to the AUHIP proposal on the fact that it conditions the eligibility to vote in the referendum on the “permanent” residence in Abyei.
Khartoum argued that such criterion fits the Dinka Ngok tribe of South Sudan and excludes the Sudanese nomads of al Messriyah who reside in Abyei few months a year to graze their cattle.
Al-Bashir and Kiir, however, agreed to continue the implementation of the agreement they signed in June 2011 on Abyei, which stipulates the establishment of joint administrative and legislative bodies to run the region. They also agreed to keep the UN-mandated force of 4200 Ethiopian peacekeepers who are deployed in Abyei as part of the same deal.
A South Sudanese official, speaking to Sudan Tribune on the condition of anonymity, confirmed on Wednesday that the two leaders failed to reach an agreement over Abyei and other disputed regions.
The official revealed that the dispute over Abyei would therefore be referred to the AU Peace and Security Council and later to the UN Security Council (UNSC).
KIIR TALKS OF PAINFUL CONCESSIONS
Meanwhile, President Kiir has expressed rejection to what he described as pressure on his country to make concessions more than the “painful” ones it already made.
“We have made painful decisions to concede over some of the demands with hope to achieve lasting peace and promote mutual cooperation and viability of the states but yet we are still feeling a pressure to make additional concession. This is not feasible. Our people are no longer accepting any suggestion”, a highly placed source speaking to Sudan Tribune quoted Kiir as saying on Wednesday.
According to the source, Kiir made the remark during a consultative discussion with mediators on the sideline of the summit in Addis Ababa.
President Kiir, whose remarks appear to be directed at Sudan’s refusal of the AUHIP proposal on Abyei, called for the immediate implementation of the proposal and on the international community to prepare for the necessary support.
“The proposal has certainly addressed key issues even if it has not resolved all the concerns”, Kiir said. The source said that the South Sudanese leader had rejected a proposal from Khartoum during the summit to either include al-Messriyah in the vote or divide the area so that the northern part of Abyei would administered by Sudan as the southern side would be administered by South Sudan.
“There is no reason to divide the area which has already been defined by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. All these claims have been addressed by the court and we all accepted the ruling as final and binding decision. We just need the referendum to be conducted for Dinka Ngok and other residents” the source quoted Kiir as telling the mediators.
Abyei is one of the issues that the UNSC ordered the two countries through resolution 2045 to resolve by the extended deadline of 22 September.
Sources told Sudan Tribune that AUHIP chief Thabo Mbeki informed Sudan and South Sudan that he intends to address the UNSC and ask for another extension of the deadline to settle the outstanding issues.
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I SAY TO MY BROTHERS THE LONGER THIS TAKES THE MORE SUFFERING!! WHY CANT THEY ALLOW FOR SEMI AUITONOMOUS IDENTITY WHERE THE ABEYEI IS RAN BY BOTH THE MESAREWI AND DINKAS WHO WILL THEN USE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELP SETTLE APPROPRIATE GRAZING FOR CATTLE AND EVEN BECOME PART OF THE MEAT INDUSTRY IN AFRICA OR THE REGION. COME ON AFRICA WAKE UP THERE ARE 1 BILLION PEOPLE ON THE CONTINENT WE NEED A STRONG AFRICA A STRONG AFRICAN UNION. SOUITH SUDAN HAS GROWN UP FAST THEY KNWO THERE ARE NO WHITE KNIGHTS AS THEY WERE LED TO BELIVE EARLIER IN THIER STRUGGLES. WHAT THEY ARE FINDING IS HARD REALITIES THAT HAVE SHUNNED THEM DISRESPECTEM MARGINALISED THEM AS CRIMINLAS BY THE USAND ISREAL WHO ARE BOSOM BUDDIES. ABEYEI SHOULD NOT BE LEFT WITHOUT REFERNDUM ALLOW THE PEOPLE TO GOVERNTHEMSELVES WHILE ALLOWING BOTH SUDAND TO HAVE UNINTERRUPTED ACCESS TO THE LAND WITH OF COURSE THIER APROVALS. IT SI TIME THAT WE SET STANDARDS FOR AFRICANS TO LIVE BY CODES OF CONDUCT A CERTAIN POLITICAL EDUCATION TO ALLOW FOR BASIC RIGHST WE DO NOT NEED WHITE NGOS WHO CONFUSE AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE UNDERMINING OF AFRICAN LEADERS AND INSTILLING OFREIGN UN ATTRACTICE NEGATIVE CULTURES TO THE AFRICAN PEOPLE. THESE PEOPL;E LIKE TO COME INTO AFRICA AND PROMOTE PROMISCUITY WHERE OUR YOUNG GIRLS ARE SEEN AS SEX OBJECTS FOR PLEASURE BY THESE PEOPLE AND THEY ALSO COME WITH THIER HOMOSEXUAL IDEALS. AFRICA NEEDS TO BLOT THISOUT OBLITERATYE IT FROM THE PEOPLES LIVES THIS SI NOT HWERE WE WANT TO GO IN AFRICA. EVEN IF THE SOUTH WANTS TO REMAIN CHRISTIAN THEN THEY SHOULD PRACTICE THE GREAT MORALITY THAT IS OF A CHRISTIAN NO ONE OBJECTS TO THE HIGH STANDARD THAT CHRIST SET PEACE BE UPON HIM. WHAT WE DO NEED IS GOOD CHRISTIANS AS THE CHRISTIANS READS OF THE MANY OTHER PROPHETS THAT ALSO CARRIED THE MESSAGES OF THE "MOST HIGH GOD". WE MUST RELATE OF THESE MORAL ATTRIBUTES THAT MAKES GOOD HUMAN BEINGS LET US REFUSE TO DIVIDE OUR MORAL SENSE OF BEINSG LTE US NOT DEFINE EACH OTHER BY THE FACT THAT ONE IS DARKER TNAN THE OTHER ONE THINBG IS SURE ADAAM WAS VERY VERY DARK AS HE WAS THE FIRST MAN SO WAS EVE PEACE BE UPON THEM BOTH . WHAT WE MUST ALSO REMEMBER IS THAT ADAAM WAS NOT BORN OF FLESH BONE BLODD HE WAS CREATED BY "THE MASTER THE MAGNIFICENT CREATOR OUR KING LORD SUPREME BEING". WE MUST RECOGNISE THAT ADAAM HAS A MORE SUPERIRO ROLE THAN MOST MAN HE WAS CREATED PERFECT AND HIS KNOWLEDGE WAS WITHOUT BOUNDS, HE KNEW MORE THAN THE ANGELS WHO WERE REMARKABLE AS THEY WERE THE FIRST CREATED BY OUR LORD". "OUR KING MAJESTY" HAD TAUGHT TO ADAAM PEACE BEUPON HIM THAN HE HAD TAUGHT TO HIS ANGELS!!!!! HOW GREAT IS THAT WE MUST REMEBER THAT THE AFRICAN IS TYHE DIRECT DESCENADANT OF ADAM IF THEY ARE LOST IT IS UP TO MUSLIMS AND ISLAM TO REDIRECT THEM TO THE TRUTH"" WE MUST NOT TRRY WE MUST BRING ASD MANY AFRICAS LOST TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE BEGINNING OF THE PERFECT CREATION THAT WAS THE "ALLMIGHTY GOD ALLAH". WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT "ALLAH IS PERFECT" SO WHAT HE DOES IS PERFECT" WE MUST RETURN TO PERFECTION OS IT IS OUR DUTY WITHOUT BIAS TO RETURN THE MARGINALISED PEOPLE TO THE REALM OF PERFECTION THAT ALLAH HAD DESIGNED FRO THEM. SHOULD WE NEGLECT TO RECOGNISE THE TRUTH AND ALLOW FOR THESE PEOPLE TO SUFFER THEN ALLAH WILL ALSO ALLOW FOR THOSE HAT LIE AND NEGLECT TO INFORM THE TRUTH TO SUFFER GREATLY. THE SUDANESE HAVE NO BUSINESS OTHER THAN RIGHT NOW TO SIGHT THE GLORY SIGHT THE TRUTH2 AND BRING FORWARD THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE TO THE "KINGDOM OF ALLAH" YOUR MISSION IS CLEAR YOU HAVE DENIED THESE PEOPLE YOU HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST THESE VERY PEOPEL WHO ARE YOUR FORE FATHERS THE ONES THAT WERE CREATED AND SENT FORWARD ORIGINALLTY WITH THE MESAGES FROM ALLAH2 THEY HAVE BEEN SHUNNED AND RAN INTO THE FOREST THEY HAVE BEEN HUNTD LIKE ANIMALS FORCED TO LIVE LIVES FORGETTING THIER KNWLEDGE AS THIER FATHERS AND MOTHERS WERE MURDERED CHILDREN HAD TO LEAD CHILDREN DEVELOPING SOCIETIES THEY COULD SCARECLY REMEMBER. DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE TRUTH ADAM WAS BORN AS BLACK AS THE NIGHT PEACE BE UPON HIM THESE PEOPLE ARE FO ADAAM; THEY WERE NOT OF THE BORN BUIT OF THE CREATED"" STUDY AN LEARN TRUTH!!! DO NOT MARGINALISE THESE PEOPLE BRING THEM FULL CIRCLE INOT THE COMRADESHIP THE FAMILY THAT IS ALLAHS WHICH IS ISLAM! ISLAM IS FREE IT HAS NO LOVE EXCEPT FOR ALLAH HE DESERVES OUR UNQUESTIONABLE LOYALTY" IF THEY CHOOSE CHRISSTIANITY THERE IS NO SHAME; BUT THEY MUST KNOW THAT THE GOD OF MOSES,PEACE BE UPON HIM WAS THE GOD OF ADAAM THE GOD OF CHRIST PEACE BE UPON HIM AND ADAAM PEACE BE UPON HIM WAS NOT BORN; NIETHER WERE THEY THAT WERE FIRST CRETAED BY "THE GREAT WONDERS OF THE HANDS OF THE ALL MIGHTY GOD ALLAH" "PEACE TO ALL MY BROTHERS IN THE EAST"
me as a person i am very tried of so many talks that have been always taken to Addis Abab yet they don,t come up with promises that south and north will and will never go to any war either in the oil field nor boarder issues,i need final and peace in Sudan as whole.tell me whether these two big guys have their own blood brother being displaced or suffering becoz of Sudan problems?