The co-chairman of the Abyei joint oversight committee, and a senior member of South Sudan’s government, Luka Biong Deng has condemned the Sudanese armed forces presence in Abyei.

Deng considered the military presence as non-compliant with the agreement signed in Addis Ababa last March, which was tasked with establishing a roadmap for Abyei.

The agreement substituted the armed forces of Sudan and South Sudan for peacekeeping Ethiopian forces, to initiate the return of displaced people to their villages.

Deng judged the exit of both armed forces from the region, and the establishment of Ethiopian peacekeepers as the best way to restore peace, and protect the local population and the nomadic groups.