US commends Sudan, South Sudan for security accord

The United States commended Sudan and South Sudan for signing a technical security accord last Friday, 8 March, in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. The defense ministers of both countries agreed to establish a safe militarized border zone (SDBZ), a firm timeline for the withdrawal of forces and a way ahead for the deployment of a joint border monitoring force. In a press statement, Washington also commended the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel and the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei for their continued efforts to implement the African Union Roadmap and UN Security Council Resolution 2046. However, the US noted that both countries should begin the immediate, independent implementation of all nine Cooperation Agreements from last September “without delay”. The European Union (EU) described the signing of the security agreement as a positive step towards the full implementation of all signed accords last September, urging it to happen “without delay”.  On Monday, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir ordered his country’s army SPLA to pull out of a buffer zone area on the border with Sudan on Monday. “The Sudan People’s Liberation Army has received instructions from the commander in chief of the SPLA, President Salva Kiir, to effect the withdrawal from the proposed safe demilitarized buffer zone,” SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer said, adding the whole process is expect to take about two weeks.File photo: Abdelrahim Hussein, Sudan’s defense minister (left) and Alison Manani Magaya, South Sudan’s interior minister (right) at Juba Airport on 5 November 2012 (Juba Post).Related: EU welcomes signing of agreement on implementation of security arrangements (11 March 2013)