Sudan agrees to demilitarise north-south zone

The announcement, made by the African Union (AU) on Tuesday, comes 10 days after the north seized the disputed Abyei region, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee.
"The agreement ... establishes a Common Border Zone between North and South Sudan, which is to be demilitarised and jointly monitored and patrolled," an AU statement said, without adding further details.
Alex de Waal, an AU adviser who has facilitated negotiations on security issues between Sudan's north and south regions, said the parties agreed to the move on Monday during talks in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
The common demilitarised zone will stretch along the length of the 2,100km north-south border.
Colonel Philip Aguer, a spokesman for the south's army, said the southern military will support the agreement "100 per cent" if both sides can agree on the actual border.
"To me that is a good agreement, but the issue now is where is the border," he said.
Princeton Lyman, the US special envoy to Sudan, said the agreement on a demilitarised zone was an important step, but noted it did little to resolve the Abyei dispute.
"It's an important step ... it provides for demilitarising the border and sharing the monitoring, but it doesn't deal with the current crisis that is going on in Abyei," he told Al Jazeera