S/PV.7580 Security Council

In accordance with rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, I invite the representative of the Sudan to participate in this meeting. The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2015/966, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the United States of America. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2015/870, which contains the report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Abyei. The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2251 (2015). I now give the floor to the representative of the Sudan.

At the outset, I would like to congratulate you, Madam, on your country’s assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for this month, which has witnessed the review of the Secretary-General’s report on Abyei (S/2015/870) and the consultations on the renewal of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). I would like also to thank Mr. Hervé Ladsous and his Office for their relentless efforts in this regard, and to acknowledge with appreciation the positive role being played by UNISFA. Resolution 2251 (2015), adopted today, stresses throughout its provisions the importance of the implementation of the 20 June Agreement between the Government of the Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement on Temporary Arrangements for the Administration and Security of the Abyei Area. It also stresses that the final status of Abyei can be determined only through dialogue between the two parties. The resolution also emphasizes the importance of the full implementation of other relevant agreements, namely, the 29 June 2011 Agreement between the Government of the Sudan and the Government of South Sudan on Border Security and the Joint Political and Security Mechanism; the 30 July 2011 Agreement on the Border Monitoring Support Mission between the Government of the Sudan and the Government of South Sudan; and the 27 September 2012 Agreements on Cooperation and Security Arrangements. All of these agreements are mutually reinforcing and complementary, and should be implemented as one package without selectivity. It is worth mentioning that the implementation of the agreed Implementation Matrix for the aforementioned agreements is crucial. For that reason, the Matrix has been issued as an official Security Council document (S/2015/654, appendix III). We reiterate our commitment to implementing the agreements, and we believe that the best way to create an atmosphere conducive to paving the way for the settlement of the final status of Abyei is the establishment of the three focal temporary mechanisms: the Temporary Administration, the Abyei Police Service and the Abyei Legislative Council. Such mechanisms, if put in place, will fill any security or administrative vacuum and help in boosting peaceful coexistence between communities, namely, the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka. With regard to the reference made to the latest national elections that took place in Abyei, we draw the Council’s kind attention to the provisions of the Abyei Protocol and the relevant agreements, which all affirm that until the final status of Abyei is determined, the Area remains part and parcel of Sudanese territory. Accordingly, Abyei was an electoral constituency like all other constituencies in the Sudan. The elections in no way affected or influenced the implementation of Abyei Protocol and the subsequent arrangements agreed for final statement. The reference to the name of the UNISFA civilian Head of Mission, contained in paragraph 15 of resolution 2251 (2015), is in stark contradiction to the content and spirit of paragraph 4l of the Secretary-General’s latest report on Abyei (S/2015/870) dated 13 November 2015, which states that “[w]hile discussions between the Government of the Sudan and the United Nations on this matter are ongoing, I urge the Governments of the Sudan and South Sudan to focus on how to move forward with the implementation of all provisions of the Agreement of 20 June 2011”. The aforementioned reference in resolution resolution 2251 (2015) reflects neither the intention of the United Nations, as expressed by the Secretary- General in his report, nor the intention of the parties concerned. It is therefore categorically rejected by my Government, and we call upon the members of the Council to further reconsider this issue. We also register our reservations over the new phrase that has been added to the seventh preambular paragraph of the resolution, regarding human rights monitoring and reporting, because the mandate of UNISFA is well defined in resolution 1990 (2011), which established the Mission and does not contain such reference. We note with appreciation that the resolution again stresses concern regarding the unilateral referendum held by the Ngok Dinka as a rejected unilateral action. In this regard, we reaffirm the commitment of the Government of the Sudan to the negotiated settlement of the final status of Abyei, and we recall that when the Sudanese army withdrew from Abyei, it did so in accordance with our commitment pursuant to the road map adopted by the African Union and endorsed by the Security Council in it is resolution 2046 (2012). Finally, we are happy to stress that the prevalent positive and excellent relations existing between the two sisterly countries of the Sudan and South Sudan, which are interwoven by deep historical bonds, augur well for addressing any ensuing differences.