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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Oct 12 2010 - 12:11:29 EDT
Abyei future talks fail, south Sudan says
Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:55am GMT
* South says peace in Sudan could unravel if no deal
* Border demarcation, citizenship remain hurdles
* Shooting reported in Abyei town
(Adds detail, background)
By Barry Malone
ADDIS ABABA, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Talks between north and south Sudan over the
future of the oil-producing Abyei region, a key hurdle ahead of January
referendums in the country, have failed, the head of the southern delegation
said on Tuesday.
Sudan is about three months away from the scheduled start of the vote on
whether Abyei should join north or south Sudan -- a plebiscite promised as
part of the 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war.
"This round has failed," said Pagan Amum, secretary-general of the south's
ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
"We are left with 90 days. The time is very critical. If the parties fail to
sort out these issues this could lead to an end of the peace process itself.
And the peace may unravel in Sudan," he told reporters in the Ethiopian
capital where the talks were being held.
Members of the northern delegation said they may hold a news conference
later on Tuesday.
Delegates told Reuters that Sudan's Second Vice-President Ali Osman Taha was
flying to Juba on Tuesday to meet south Sudan president Salva Kiir in an
attempt to salvage the talks.
One observer at the talks, who declined to be identified, told Reuters the
negotiations were expected to reconvene in Addis Ababa at the end of October
and that former South African President Thabo Mbeki had offered to mediate.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged Khartoum to come to the
talks prepared to negotiate. The Obama administration's special envoy for
Sudan, Scott Gration, participated in the talks.
At the same time as the Abyei plebiscite, there will also be a referendum on
whether south Sudan should secede from the north. That vote is widely
expected to bring about Africa's newest country, a development opposed by
Khartoum.
Delegates in Addis Ababa told Reuters one possible solution to the impasse
was to forego the referendum on Abyei and divide its territory between the
north and the south.
But delegates said the teams were unable to agree on border demarcation and
what would qualify as Abyei citizenship. The SPLM says the Khartoum
government is settling thousands of Missiriya, a tribe from central Sudan,
in northern Abyei to influence the vote.
The Khartoum government denies this.
In a sign of mounting tension, south Sudan's army told Reuters four northern
soldiers walked into the centre of Abyei town on Monday evening and started
shooting randomly in the air, slightly injuring one trader.
An international source in Abyei confirmed gunshots were heard in the town
but said it was unclear who was shooting or for what reason. No one was
immediately available for comment from the northern army.
"They (the four northern soldiers) were clearly trying to provoke the
situation to start fighting," southern army spokesman Kuol Deim Kuol said on
Tuesday. "The plan failed because our officers managed to constrain our
soldiers not to fire back."
Abyei town is patrolled by a Joint Integrated Unit made up of northern and
southern soldiers set up under the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement
between north and south. Kuol said the four soldiers came from the northern
part of the joint unit.
Northern and southern leaders have accused each other of building up forces
north and south of the Abyei area. (Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens
in Khartoum; Editing by David Clarke and Giles Elgood)
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