KHARTOUM, Sudan, May 6 (UPI) -- The governments in Sudan said they would implement a series of agreements meant to restore security to the disputed region of Abyei, a U.N. official said.
Abyei lies along the presumptive border between Sudan and southern Sudan, which becomes an independent state in July. Leaders from both Sudanese governments early this year backed the Kadugli and Abyei agreements that call for the withdrawal of illegal forces in the area in favor in an integrated police unit.
"The two parties have committed that the Kadugli and Abyei agreements shall be carried out with the facilitation and participation of the United Nations," said Haile Menkerios, the U.N. special envoy to Sudan and head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan, in a statement.
The agreement followed a series of deadly clashes in the region this week that left at least 14 people dead.
Voters backed a January referendum for an independent South Sudan. Abyei was left out of the process, however, because of voter eligibility issues. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir reneged on earlier promises by saying he wouldn't recognize South Sudan if Abyei broke away from the north.
The January referendum was part of a comprehensive peace agreement reached in 2005 that brought an end to a bloody civil war in Sudan.
