New battle flares as Sudanese rivals sign accord

Rival north and south Sudan on Monday signed a deal to demilitarize their disputed frontier region of Abyei and let in an Ethiopian peacekeeping force, an international mediator said. But while the UN Security Council welcomed the accord new fears were raised over heightening conflict in neighboring South Kordofan where Khartoum's military had threatened to shoot down UN flights, according to the US envoy to the United Nations. Former South African president Thabo Mbeki, heading an African Union panel, brokered the accord in Addis Ababa under which the north's troops agreed to leave Abyei. The north occupied Abyei on May 21 and tens of thousands have since fled their homes, mainly to the south. The deal would "bring to an end this threat of violence, and actual violence in the area, so we are really hoping that Security Council will look at this agreement as early as possible and take all the necessary decisions," Mbeki told the 15-nation body by videolink from the Ethiopian capital. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the accord, but said the real test would be how both sides implemented the deal. "The agreement signed today is an important first step -- but the real test of the parties' commitment will be the full implementation of its provisions in the coming days," Clinton said in a statement. "We will work within the UN Security Council to seek a resolution authorizing the agreed-upon interim security force to support the swift deployment of the Ethiopian peacekeepers. "At the same time, I urge all parties to follow through on their commitment to withdraw their military forces and take steps to facilitate the return of the tens of thousands of people displaced by recent fighting." About 4,000 Ethiopian troops are expected to moved into Abyei, which has become a near ghost region since the north's occupation. It had been mainly inhabited by Ngok Dinka people who consider themselves southerners. But Misseriya nomads from the north herd their cattle through the territory in the dry season and are strongly supported by the Khartoum government. US envoy to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said it was "urgent" for the Ethiopian troops to be deployed as quickly as possible. She said the United States would soon distribute a draft resolution to other council members giving a UN mandate to the Ethiopian deployment. Two decades of civil war up to 2005 left two million dead and a new front in the north-south battle has opened up ahead of Southern Sudan's formal declaration of independence on July 9. Khartoum forces and their allies launched a major assault on June 5 in the state, which is north of the border but peopled by many southern sympathizers. Rice said up to 75,000 people had fled their homes in South Kordofan and aid groups estimate that hundreds have been killed, but the United Nations says its mission, UNMIS, has been refused access to the state. Sudanese forces "have threatened to shoot down UNMIS air patrols, they have taken control of the airport in Kadugli and refused landing rights to UNMIS flights," Rice told a UN Security Council debate. The UN mission in the state is now "dangerously low" on food and an estimated 10,000 people have gathered around the UN compound in Kadugli, she added. "The reports my government has been receiving of the ongoing fighting are horrifying both because of the scope of human rights abuses and because of the the ethnic dimensions of the conflict," Rice said. She highlighted reports that pro-Khartoum forces had "arrested and allegedly executed" sympathizers of southern Sudan. "We have received further allegations, not yet corroborated, but so alarming that I must mention them, that the Sudanese Armed Forces are arming elements of the local population and placing mines in areas of Kadugli," Rice added. "Security services and military forces have reportedly detained and summarily executed local authorities, ethnic rivals, medical personnel and others. Mbeki said senior political leaders from South Kordofan and neighboring states had started arriving in Addis Ababa and that from Tuesday there would be "serious" talks on ending the fighting there. "We are hoping to move to that South Kordofan matter immediately and urgently," he said. The AU envoy said there had also been progress in talks on formal relations between the north and south after the July 9 split. He said discussions had been "finalized" on issues such as dividing Sudan's international debt and on oil revenues, currency and other economic measures. He said a package had been put to both sides for approval.