Khartoum - Sudan and South Sudan faced a United Nations deadline on
Wednesday to pull troops back from their disputed border, as the South
alleged violation of a ceasefire in effect since 04 May.
Both
sides are to establish a "Safe Demilitarised Border Zone" and to jointly
begin monitoring the frontier under a 02 May UN Security Council
resolution.
The Security Council passed the resolution, saying
the border situation "constitutes a serious threat to international
peace and security".
The UN's call for a pullout from the
disputed frontier is in line with agreements made by Sudan and South
Sudan for a monitored demilitarised zone, but which they have failed to
implement.
Under those plans, they were supposed to pull back
10km from the north-south border that was in place on 01 January 1956,
when Sudan became independent.
The demilitarised zone would be
monitored by observers from both sides, with security and other support
provided by the UN's Interim Security Force for Abyei, or UNISFA, which
is based in the contested region of Abyei.
But a foreign diplomat has said the two sides "refused to let UNISFA deploy along the border".
The
02 May UN resolution says the call for a demilitarised zone and border
monitoring "in no way prejudices" negotiations over disputed areas, and
border demarcation.
The South's army said on Wednesday it had pulled back 10km in line with the resolution.
But
it said it was focused more on Sudanese air strikes which it alleged
hit the South's border states on Monday and Tuesday in violation of the
UN resolution's call to end hostilities from the evening of last Friday.
There was no immediate comment from Khartoum.
A
border war between Sudan and South Sudan began in late March,
escalating with waves of Sudanese air strikes against South Sudanese
territory and the South's 10-day seizure of the Heglig oil field from
Khartoum's army.
Both Khartoum and Juba pledged to seek peace after the Security Council resolution threatened sanctions if they do not comply.
- AFP