Khartoum agrees to conditional Abyei pullout

Khartoum has conditionally agreed to withdraw its troops from the disputed Abyei district, the south's information minister said on Monday, on the second day of top-level talks in Ethiopia. "We have information that they have accepted to withdraw from Abyei as long they agree on the specific arrangement with regards to the Abyei administration," Barnaba Marial Benjamin told the independent Sudan Radio Service. "What troops that will be put to replace the Sudanese Armed forces (SAF -- the northern army) when they withdraw, they will discuss the details of that security arrangement," Benjamin said. "I think they have accepted the principle that they have to withdraw," Benjamin added. Northern troops overran the flashpoint border district on May 21, in response to an attack on a convoy of SAF troops and UN peacekeepers, prompting more than 100,000 people, mostly pro-southern Dinka Ngok farmers, to flee from the region, according to UN estimates.