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JIU batallion starts deployment in Abyei |
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Tuesday, 17 June 2008 |
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The Joint Integrated Unit (JIU) affirmed that it will start deploying a battalion of more than six hundred soldiers in Abyei today.
The battalion was supposed to start deploying yesterday but couldn’t due to lack of planes.
Colonel Valentino Tokmac told the French Press Agency (AFP) that the delay was “not for a specific reason but the [UN] flight schedule [was] full.” He affirmed that the deployment of the units is a key part of the Abyei roadmap agreement signed recently between the National Congress Party and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.The Spokesman of the Joint Defense Board, Major General Bior Ajang, said that the battalion is composed of 320 soldiers from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and 300 soldiers from the Sudan Armed Forces.
He affirmed that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and the Sudan Armed Forces would completely withdraw their elements in the area when the JIUs are fully deployed by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, a senior U.N. official told Reuter’s news agency that international body has so far found 89 bodies in Abyei from fighting that erupted last month between the SPLA and the SAF.
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