South Sudan withdraws from Heglig

South Sudan has said it will withdraw its troops from an oil town claimed by Sudan, pulling the two nations back from the brink of all-out war.

South Sudan’s president – Salva Kiir – said the South still believes that the town of Heglig is part of his country and that its status should be determined by international arbitration. South Sudanese troops took over Heglig last week, sending Sudanese troops fleeing and sparking condemnation.

The South broke away from Sudan last year after an independence vote, the culmination of a 2005 peace treaty that ended decades of conflict. Despite the treaty, violence between the two countries has been on the rise, in part because the sides never agreed where the border lies, nor how to share oil revenues from the region.

In the presidential statement he read, South Sudan government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said it would withdraw its forces from Heglig. Military spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer said the withdrawal would be completed within three days.

“It doesn’t mean we are abandoning the area. If our territory is being occupied we will not wait for the international community,” Col Aguer said.

Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Sudan’s UN ambassador, said Sudanese forces “ran them out.”