Sudan, South Sudan Reach Border Agreement

Khartoum--Sudan and the newly independent South Sudan have signed a border security agreement, seen to end the border dispute that had brought claim of return to civil war.

The agreement brokered by an African Union (AU) mediation panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, was signed on Sunday in the Sudanese Capital of Khartoum. The accord signed in presence of security officials from both sides is aimed at ending the dispute between the two sides and improving security in the disputed border region.

The accord says about 300 teams of joint task forces drawn from both sides will be deployed in the agreed buffer zone, with backing from the Ethiopian peacekeepers. Ten crossing points are expected to be set up within a demilitarised zone of the 2000km long border.

North’s Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein told reporters on Sunday that both countries had agreed on 80 percent of the possible border point where he said the deal is set to end the conflict.

“This agreement will strengthen the exchange between the two people ... We don't see any conflicts," he said. Hussein was speaking after meeting with his Southern counterpart John Kong Nyuon.

The deal comes after several broken agreements to demilitarise the disputed buffer zone, with major area of contest being the oil-rich Abyei region that both sides claim, leading to a bloody contest.

A vote on Abyei’s fate was scheduled along South Sudan’s referendum on independence on January 9 this year,  but was delayed over voting rights of the region’s two vary communities and other outstanding issues such as sharing of oil resources and national debt.

South Sudan legitimately became independent in July 9 following a successful vote under the 2005 peace deal that ended the two decades of north-south civil strife.

Currently the ill-defined border remains closed, hampering trade and travelling, but has become famous for smuggling goods on both sides.

 

Zambia: Citizens waits Elections Results as Opposition Leader Takes Early Lead

Lusaka----Voting in Zambia’s fiercely contested election closed on Tuesday, in the polls that were marred by delays and pockets of violence in the capital, Lusaka.

Partial results show an early lead by main challenger Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front party. He has 42 percent of the vote compared to 35 percent for President Rupiah Banda of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy and 18 percent for a candidate of the UPND party.

According to the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), the results are based on a tally of 133 of the country’s 150 constituencies.

5.2 million voters registered for the presidential, parliamentary and local elections; an extra one million since the 2008 polls, many being young and unemployed. Voters are also electing 150 members of parliament and more than 1,000 local councillors.

Banda who is popular in rural areas won the 2008 polls against Sata-popular in urban areas-by a two percent margin, sparking violence by opposition supporters over rigging allegations. The vote was held following death of President Levy Mwanawasa.

Priscilla Isaacs, head of Zambia’s electoral commission has expressed satisfaction with the overall conduct of the polls, despite of delays in some parts of the capital, where voting had to be extended beyond the 1600 GMT time.

Isaacs, speaking during a press briefing, said the final results of the general elections will be released on Thursday, calling for patience as electoral officials tabulate the results.

“We worked very hard, we received our funding, we put everything in place and we got materials in place on time,” she said.  “We hope that we can meet our target of having the results within 48 hours.”

Police in the capital have restored order following violence after claims that a man had been found with pre-marked ballot papers, allegations the election officials deny. Four people were arrested in the protest when a crowd went rampage, burning voting materials, blocking roads and smashing vehicles.

International poll observers have termed the vote as “fair” and “peaceful”, denying claims of violence which they said were isolated and short-lived.

Chief EU election observer in Zambia Maria Muniz De Urquiza told the BBC that “So far, the reports we have is that everything is going in a peaceful manner, in a calm way.”

Banda is said to ride on the robust economic growth at 7.6 percent this year owing to the copper boom at the world markets. Zambia is world’s second largest exporter of Copper from China but still struggles with poverty, with 64 percent of Zambians living on less than two Dollars a day.

Sata has promised to re-introduce the 25 percent windfall mining tax abolished by Banda in 2009, whom he accuses of corruption and letting foreign investors reap rewards of the copper boom.