EP calls on South Sudan to withdraw from Sudan’s heglig region

The President of the European Parliament (EP) Martin Schulz has said he is “very concerned” about the ongoing fighting in the Heglig region in Sudan and urged South Sudan to “immediately retreat from Sudan’s Heglig region” and called on the Sudan Armed Forces to end the aerial bombardment of South Sudan. “All sides should rein in their forces and restrain from violence allowing for humanitarian aid to provide assistance in the affected areas,” he said in a statement issued here on Thursday. He warned that the “vicious circle of extreme and belligerent declarations makes a ceasefire more difficult to achieve. It moves us every day a step forward towards open war. For both Sudan and South Sudan dialogue and diplomacy are the only way forward, he stressed. While in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged South Sudan to withdraw its troops from Sudanese oil-rich Heglig region, and Sudan to stop bombarding its neighbour to the south and withdraw from disputed Abyei region. “I call on South Sudan to immediately withdraw its forces from Heglig. This is an infringement on the sovereignty of Sudan and a clearly illegal act… I also call on the Government of Sudan to immediately stop shelling and bombing South Sudanese territory and withdraw its forces from disputed territories, in particular Abyei,” Ban told reporters. “I urge both sides to exercise maximum restraint, — stop supporting proxy forces against each other, return to the negotiation table, and resolve their differences,” he said adding, “The last thing the people of these two countries need,” he noted, “is another war – a war that could claim countless lives, destroy hope and ruin the prospects of peace and stability and prosperity of all Sudanese people.” This is not the time for war, he insisted, adding: “This is a time for leadership, for engagement, for negotiation – in the name of humanity, and in the interests of the people of both countries and the region.” For his part, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir yesterday vowed to root out Sudanese forces not only from Heglig, but from Juba too.