SUDAN: Backslaps and caveats over Abyei
ABYEI, 22 July 2009 (IRIN): The two sides in Sudans last civil war have accepted a landmark ruling on the boundaries of Abyei, a flashpoint region where tensions had threatened to derail a fragile peace process, in a move that elicited widespread optimism, as well as caution.
– What we have seen today is a good compromise, said Abdelbagi Gailaini, a leading member of the National Congress Party, the ruling power in Khartoum.
– Everybody is committed, and everyone is standing by what this ruling has reflected, he added, speaking from the town of Abyei.
Gailaini was speaking after a tribunal in The Hague redefined the borders of Abyei, considerably reducing its size from a previous panel decision in 2005.
Oil fields formally inside Abyei – jointly administered by Northern and Southern Sudan – now lie in the north. However, most of Sudans oil fields are still located in Southern Sudan.
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