U.N. Security Council to work on Sudanese issues

The U.N. Security Council will take up a draft resolution that would establish an interim peacekeeping force for the disputed border region of Abyei, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told reporters Thursday.

The draft resolution calls for the deployment of 4,200 Ethiopian National Defense Force peacekeepers to the region. “We are looking forward to discussions with council members in order to swiftly adopt a resolution authorizing this new interim security force for Abyei so that the agreement that both parties have reached, which is obviously urgent and fragile, can be implemented immediately and effectively,” Rice told reporters after the Security Council met in closed session.

The purpose of the interim security agreement is to allow for the withdrawal of forces from Abyei, she said. “At this stage that means the forces of the government of Sudan, which are now occupying Abyei, and that that area would become demilitarized and administered in a joint fashion and that would persist pending resolution of the critical underlying issues.”

Source: CNN