JURIST - Paper Chase: Hague arbitration court redraws Sudan oil region boundaries

[JURIST] The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) [official website] in The Hague issued an order [text, PDF; materials] Wednesday redrawing boundaries of Sudan's oil-producing Abyei region. The borders of the region had been disputed by the country's southern Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) [group website] and its northern, ruling National Congress Party (NCP) [party website]. The borders had originally been drawn by the Abyei Boundaries Commission (ABC) [report text] following a 2005 peace agreement [text, PDF] between the SPLM and NCP, but the PCA held that the ABC had exceeded its mandate when it determined some of the region's boundaries. The issue was brought to the PCA [arbitration agreement, PDF] by the SPLM and NCP, and both parties have said they will abide [VOA report] by the court's decision.

Control of revenues derived from the Abyei region's oil reserves was one of the factors that contributed to the country's violent civil war. A peace deal between the government and the SPLM was reached in late 2004, while a comprehensive peace deal, which also covered the country's Darfur region, was signed in early 2005 [JURIST reports].