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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed Jun 01 2011 - 07:51:05 EDT
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13613025*
*1 June 2011* Last updated at 05:31 ET
Ethiopia offers peacekeepers for Abyei in Sudan
Ethiopia has offered to send peacekeepers to Sudan's disputed border region
of Abyei after its recent seizure by northern troops.
Analysts have feared the Abyei dispute could reignite the civil war between
the north and South Sudan, which is due to become independent in July.
Officials say the south has accepted the offer; the north is considering it.
It comes after both sides agreed to set up a demilitarised zone along their
border to be jointly patrolled.
Sudan expert Alex De Waal, who is has been working on the African
Union-mediated deal, told the BBC negotiations about how it would work were
ongoing.
Some 1.5 million people died in the 22-year north-south civil war which
ended in 2005.
Border force request
The UN Security Council condemned the occupation of Abyei and called for the
immediate withdrawal of northern troops from the oil-producing region also
claimed by the south.
Analysis on demilitarised zone
Alex De Waal Africa expert, interviewed by the BBC World Service
------------------------------
This agreement sets up a joint political and security mechanism as well as a
demilitarised zone 10km either side of the border line.
It provides a mechanism for allowing the Sudanese army to leave Abyei and it
also provides the structure on to which a possible third party could be
locked.
What is under discussion now is what form that third party should take:
Should it be the UN, should it be another third party, should there be
troops to protect those monitors or should those monitors be protected by
the parties themselves?
At the moment the trust between Sudan and South Sudan is not really there
but what is quite remarkable is that when the soldiers get together, they
get down to business. The business-like and co-operative approach of the
senior military officers on both sides gives a lot of reason for confidence
that they will actually sort it out.
But Sudan's ambassador to the UN Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman has said it will
do so only when new political and security arrangements have been agreed.
Meanwhile, he said Sudan's government wanted peacekeepers to leave its
territory when South Sudan becomes independent in July.
The request comes after UN chief Ban Ki-moon proposed a three-month
extension to the force's mandate while the north and south resolve
outstanding territorial issues.
Mr Osman told the UN Security Council such issues could be settled at the
negotiating table.
But a senior official from South Sudan, Ezekiel Gatkuoth, said the UN should
have a presence on both sides of the border.
He welcomed its continued existence in the south, saying its main objective
should be to avoid a security vacuum.
"We were asking for [a] more than 7,000 UN peacekeeping force. Then we have
asked for the UN to do a consultation with the governors of southern Sudan
so that we can have a new mission with responsibility to monitor the border
and also protect civilians," he told the BBC's World Today programme.
The BBC's Barbara Plett in New York says it is not clear how the UN Security
Council will respond to Khartoum's request.
Limiting peacekeepers to the south could complicate efforts to monitor the
boundary, parts of which, including Abyei, are contested.
As the Security Council debated the UN's mission in Sudan, Ethiopia said it
would send peacekeepers to Abyei if both north and south made the request.
"It is within our interests and that of the region to maintain stability in
Sudan," foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told Reuters news agency.
Mr Gatkuoth said Juba accepted Ethiopia's proposal, but Mr Osman said
Khartoum was still considering it.
Abyei is claimed by a southern group, the Dinka Ngok, and northern nomads,
the Misseriya.
Under the 2005 peace deal, which ended the 22-year civil war, Abyei was
granted special status and a joint administration was set up in 2008 to run
the area until a referendum decided its fate.
That vote was due to take place in January, when the south decided to split
from the north, but has now been postponed indefinitely.
Last week, South Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister said he estimated
150,000 people had fled from Abyei state and border regions fearing further
attacks. The UN's currently overall figure is 60,000.
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