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North Troops to Leave Soon


The Monitor (Kampala)


NEWS
14 December 2007
Posted to the web 13 December 2007

By Opheera Mcdoom & Skye Wheeler
Khartoum/Juba

NORTH Sudanese troops will redeploy from the south by the end of the year and joint
forces will patrol the oil fields which produce 500,000 barrels per day of crude,
officials said on Thursday.

Funds have been set aide for a census ahead of elections due by 2009, the first
democratic polls in more than two decades, and 60 laws will be reviewed as part of
the recent deal between Sudan's former foes to end a political crisis, they said.



The former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) withdrew from the
national coalition government in October, complaining that the landmark 2005
north-south peace deal was not being implemented.

On Tuesday the two sides said they had resolved all problems except the status of the
central oil-rich Abyei region.

"All the redeployment of the troops is going to finish by Dec 31. and then the most
important thing is that the joint integrated units are going to take over protection
of the oil," SPLM deputy secretary-general Yasir Arman told Reuters.

Under the deal, separate northern and southern armies were formed with joint units to
patrol main towns and oil fields. But the north missed a July 9 deadline for
redeploying north of the border, leaving most of its troops still in southern oil
fields.

Khartoum says it has only 3,600 troops in the south, but SPLM Chairman Salva Kiir put
the figure at 17,000.

The political settlement also provided funds for a census, due to begin next year,
and an agreement to review some 60 laws which contravene the new constitution, SPLM
Secretary-General Pagan Amum told Reuters.

"Money for the ... border demarcation and the census has been given ... The funds
have already arrived in their accounts on Wednesday," he added.


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