Sudan’s North, South Agree to Demilitarize Abyei Region

Northern and Southern Sudan pledged to pull their military forces out of the disputed border region of Abyei and to accept in principle the deployment of Ethiopian troops in the region, an African Union spokesman said.

Details of the deployment are still being worked out, Barney Afako, the spokesman for the African Union’s high-level implementation panel on Sudan, told reporters in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. The two sides agreed to withdraw military forces from the region by July 9, when Southern Sudan is scheduled to become independent.