UN pulls out from border posts between African states

Rising instability has forced the relocation of personnel from two Joint Border Verification Mechanism sites along the Sudan-South Sudan frontier

The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has withdrawn all peacekeepers and national monitors from two sites on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, the UN said on Monday. 

The pullout from the Tishwin and Abu Qussa/Wunkur positions was completed over the weekend, according to the statement. The two sites form part of the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism, a framework created to observe and verify activity along the disputed frontier between the neighboring states.  

“This withdrawal follows an assessment that the increasingly volatile and unpredictable security situation in the two areas had significantly hindered the safe and effective delivery of the mandate,” the UN reported.  

The withdrawal follows earlier disruptions to the mission’s operations in Sudan. In December, a logistics base in Kadugli was evacuated after an attack targeting Bangladeshi peacekeepers stationed there. 

The move comes as Sudan remains gripped by a civil war. 

Neighboring South Sudan has faced years of instability since gaining independence from Sudan.  

Following that incident, the Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism temporarily moved its headquarters to Abyei, where it continues to track developments along the border area. 

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UNISFA stated it remains committed to supporting stability between Sudan and South Sudan and to implementing border security arrangements previously agreed by the two governments. 

The mission was established by the UN Security Council in June 2011 under Resolution 1990 after clashes between forces from Sudan and the then-autonomous south over the disputed region of Abyei, shortly before South Sudan declared independence. The deployment followed an agreement between the two sides to demilitarize the area and allow international peacekeepers to stabilize the territory after violence displaced more than 100,000 people. 

The force, which was initially composed almost entirely of Ethiopian peacekeepers, remains deployed as the status of Abyei, claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, has yet to be resolved.

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