Northern forces seized the disputed town of Abyei last month, raising fears of a new north-south war Rival Sudanese ‘to leave Abyei’
Northern forces seized the disputed town of Abyei last month, raising fears of a new north-south war Rival Sudanese leaders have signed a deal for their forces to withdraw from the disputed border town of Abyei, mediator Thabo Mbeki says.
Northern forces seized the town last month, raising fears of a new war, as South Sudan prepares for independence on 9 July.
Both northern and southern troops are to leave the area, to be replaced by Ethiopian soldiers, Mr Mbeki said.
This deal was first reported last week but details had not been confirmed.
However, two days after the deal was announced, a South Sudan spokesman said rival forces had clashed once more.
More than 100,000 people have fled the fighting in Abyei, the UN says.
Another 60,000 have fled violence between pro-south communities and northern forces in the neighbouring South Kordofan state.
Mr Mbeki, a former South African president, announced the deal in a video link to the UN Security Council.
South Sudan is due to gain independence under a peace deal that ended two decades of north-south conflict – a conflict war that left some 1.5 million people dead.
The war ended with a 2005 peace deal, under which the mainly Christian and animist south held a referendum in January on whether to secede from the largely Arabic-speaking, Muslim north.
Some 99% of voters opted for independence. President Bashir said he would accept the verdict of the south, where most of Sudan’s oil fields lie.
Sudan: A country divided
Geography Ethnic groups Infant mortality Water & sanitation Education Food insecurity Oil fields
Show regions
The great divide across Sudan is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. Southern Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.
Sudan’s arid northern regions are home mainly to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in Southern Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own traditional beliefs and languages.
The health inequalities in Sudan are illustrated by infant mortality rates. In Southern Sudan, one in 10 children die before their first birthday. Whereas in the more developed northern states, such as Gezira and White Nile, half of those children would be expected to survive.
The gulf in water resources between north and south is stark. In Khartoum, River Nile, and Gezira states, two-thirds of people have access to piped drinking water and pit latrines. In the south, boreholes and unprotected wells are the main drinking sources. More than 80% of southerners have no toilet facilities whatsoever.
Throughout Sudan, access to primary school education is strongly linked to household earnings. In the poorest parts of the south, less than 1% of children finish primary school. Whereas in the wealthier north, up to 50% of children complete primary level education.
Conflict and poverty are the main causes of food insecurity in Sudan. The residents of war-affected Darfur and Southern Sudan are still greatly dependent on food aid. Far more than in northern states, which tend to be wealthier, more urbanised and less reliant on agriculture.
Sudan exports billions of dollars of oil per year. Southern states produce more than 80% of it, but receive only 50% of the revenue, exacerbating tensions with the north. The oil-producing region of Abyei was due to hold a separate vote on whether to join the north or the south, but it has been postponed indefinitely.
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