Security Council demands end to Sudan-South Sudan fighting

13 Apr 2012

Security Council demands end to Sudan-South Sudan fighting

12 April 2012 - Alarmed by escalating conflict between Sudan and South Sudan, the Security Council demanded today that they immediately end cross-border violence and redeploy their forces from forward positions.

"The recent violence threatens to return both countries to full-scale war and the period of tragic loss of life and suffering, destroyed infrastructure, and economic devastation, which they have worked so hard and long to overcome", the Council said in a statement delivered by Susan Rice of the United States.

To defuse the situation, immediate actions demanded by the Council include withdrawal of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) from the recently occupied oil-rich area of Heglig in Sudan, an end to aerial bombardments by Sudan's air force and redeployment of the forces of both sides to 10 kilometres outside the Sudan-South Sudan borderline specified in their agreements of 29 June and 30 July 2011.

The Council also reiterated its demand that both parties redeploy their forces immediately from the disputed Abyei area. In addition, both sides were urged to take immediate steps to establish a demilitarized border zone and activate the border monitoring mechanism already agreed upon, with the support of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNIFSA).

Towards lasting peace, the Council called on the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to "urgently and peacefully" resolve issues regarding Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei and all other outstanding matters of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended their decades-long conflict.

"It further calls on the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan to meet immediately in a summit as previously planned in order to advance the issues that stand in the way of achieving lasting peace," the Council said.