International Tribunal Redraws Boundaries of Sudanese Abyei Region: a Chance for Peace?

Abstract

On July 22, 2009, a Hague-based ad hoc international tribunal (“the Tribunal”) operating under the rules of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (“PCA”) rendered its final Award in the highly complex The Government of Sudan / The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (“the Award”) case. The Award considerably reduced the extent of the Sudanese Abyei area compared to a previous decision in 2005 and de facto placed several major oilfields under the authority of Northern Sudan. The delimitation of the Abyei area is indeed a highly delicate and possibly explosive issue for mainly two reasons. The first reason relates to the abovementioned oilfields in the region that yielded US$ 1.8 billion in revenues from 2005 to 2007, representing 26.6% of the oil production of Sudan in 2005. The second reason is that under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (“CPA”) the boundaries of the area are likely to become international borders in 2011 when Abyei area residents decide whether they wish to belong to Southern Sudan concurrently with a referendum in Southern Sudan on its secession from the North. A first attempt to define the boundaries of the Abyei area following the signature of the CPA by a panel of experts in 2005 did not resolve the dispute. On July 7, 2008, the parties signed an Arbitration Agreement according to which the Tribunal had to determine whether the group of experts had exceeded their mandate when