Photo taken on Nov. 15, 2018 shows the United Nations Security Council voting on a resolution to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), at the UN headquarters in New York. The UN Security Council on Thursday decided to reduce the troops of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and increase its police presence. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Thursday decided to reduce the troops of the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and increase its police presence.
Sudan and South Sudan are disputing the oil-rich Abyei, an area inhabited mainly by Sudan's Arab Mesiria tribe and South Sudan's Dinka Ngok tribe. The 2005 peace deal that led to South Sudan's independence from Sudan six years later required the two sides to solve the issue but they have so far failed to do so.
In a unanimously adopted resolution, the 15-nation council renewed the mandate of the mission until May 15, 2019, and decided to reduce the authorized troop ceiling of the mission from 4,500 to 4,140, while increasing the authorized police ceiling from 50 to 345 police personnel, including 185 individual police officers and one formed police unit.
The troop ceiling will be further reduced by 295 troops following the deployment of increased police personnel, according to the resolution.
The council called on the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to provide full support to the United Nations, including by promptly issuing entry visas to military, police, civilian and humanitarian personnel.
UNISFA was approved by the Security Council in June 2011 after a flareup in the region.
