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Netherlands: Sudanese border dispute before Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague

On Friday 11 July, representatives of the two parties in the Sudanese border dispute centring on the area of Abyei submitted a request to the Deputy Secretary-General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration for assistance in settling the dispute.

Abyei is an oil-rich area on the border between north and south Sudan. At the request of the parties, the Netherlands made a legal expert available who has advised the parties on the possibilities of arbitration.

In 2005, the Sudanese government in the north and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The border in the area of Abyei is the subject of a longstanding dispute. Violent clashes broke out in May this year between Sudanese troops and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). The violence was the most serious infringement of the CPA.

On 8 June the two parties agreed on a series of measures to avoid a repeat of the violence and to implement the CPA, including submitting the issue of the boundary in the Abyei area to arbitration.

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