North, South Sudan Abyei withdrawal of troops agreed: A

KHARTOUM, Sudan - North and southern Sudan have agreed to launch the withdrawal of troops not permitted in the flashpoint border region Abyei, the Organization of the United Nations said, a week after clashes that he caused the death of 14 people.

Both parties agreed that the pullout begins Tuesday and be completed within a week, the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) said late Sunday.

The decision was taken at a meeting of a Joint Committee composed of representatives of the North and the South and chaired by the General commanding the UNMIS Force Moses Obi, said the statement.

"The meeting agreed that the two parties will create an environment by de-escalating tensions speaking of their respective communities on the ground concerning the implementation of the agreements of Kadugli and guarantee freedom of access for UNMIS"said the peacekeeping mission.

A peace agreement signed by both parties in the capital of the State of southern Kordofan in Kadugli in January has called all forces to withdraw from the region bitterly disputed except the joint integrated units special (JIUS) staff of the North and South, the two army and police, alongside UN peacekeepers.

North and South have repeatedly accused each other of sending a large number of "irregular" soldiers to Abyei, in violation of the truce in January.

The Organization of the United Nations was not able to give estimates on the number of troops not permitted in the region, but he explains both armies were reinforcing their positions in and around Abyei in recent months.

The joint integrated units remains there, responsible for ensuring the security of the region.

It is not the first time that the North and South of the Sudan committed themselves to implement the agreements of Kadugli, and the International Crisis Group sounds a note of warning shortly after the announcement of the United Nationsby saying that the Abyei conflict had reached a point of no return.

Escalating tensions on the ground and between the leaders in Khartoum and Juba, who both made unilateral claims on Abyei, endangering the fragile peace in the Sudan and the smooth secession of the South, the think tank based in Brusselssaid.

"New escalation and risk of deployments of tit-for-tat additional forcing Sudan Abyei beyond the point of no return, evoking life and the fragile peace," she added.

The ICG warning comes a week after 14 people were killed at a checkpoint security only 17 kilometers (10 miles) North of the town of Abyei in fighting broke out between the police forces of the southern and Northern elements in integrated ago deployed mixed units.

Police had blocked a convoy of 200 troops and six landcruisers mounted with machine guns - as officials in Khartoum, said was an unauthorized arms shipment but South appointed Chief Administrator of the Abyei described as an "invasion."

The International Crisis Group described the joint integrated units as failure of the 2005 North-South peace agreement which had been largely wrong, who had already participated in large-scale clashes and have been characterized by mistrust.

Future status of Abyei is a raft of issues of Northern and southern Sudan are struggling to agree on prior to the full independence of the South, to be held in exactly two months the most sensitive.

Deadly fighting and recriminations have degenerated since January, when the region ought to vote on whether to join the North or South, alongside a referendum in the South which delivered a landslide for the secession.

But the plebiscite was postponed indefinitely in the middle of the impasse between North and South on who should be eligible to vote.