Slow return for Abyei residents

More than 100,000 people have been displaced by the simmering conflict over the disputed Sudanese area of Abyei, a U.N. representative said. The U.N. Security Council last week passed a resolution extending the mandate for interim security forces to Abyei, situated along the border between South Sudan and Sudan. Ali al-Zatari, resident U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said an estimated 5,000 people have returned to Abyei, though at least 100,000 remained displaced. It's "high time," he said in a statement, for Sudanese authorities to open humanitarian corridors to the area. Both sides were called on by the Security Council last week to "demilitarize the disputed Abyei region and resolve a deadlock in putting in place previously agreed administrative arrangements." Access to Abyei is only permissible through South Sudan, the U.N. representative said. The United Nations has been working with international migration authorities to help repatriate people from Sudan who were stranded after South Sudan became an independent country in July. South Sudan's independence came as a result of a comprehensive peace agreement reached in 2005. That deal ended a brutal civil war, though ethnic conflicts and border clashes are threatening the fragile peace.