London, October 20: Haile Menkerios said on Tuesday that the UN would deploy an additional 100 troops in Abyei in order to provide security in the region for the January vote.
“Indeed the UN is assessing the needs and will continue to consult with parties on how best it can assess them to respond to these needs,” Menkerios pointed out.
South Sudan is due to vote on whether to secede from the North on January 9 next year, while Abyei, which lies between the North and South, is scheduled to decide on the same day which half of the country it wishes to join.
The United Nations and other international bodies are to monitor the process.
Sudan’s Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein said on Tuesday that the referendum could be delayed until border and security problems are solved, but south Sudan refuses the delay.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir warned earlier this month about resolving the major items related to the January referendum.
In 2005, a peace pact brokered by the African Union and the UN ended the civil strife with the condition that a referendum on south Sudan independence be held in 2011.
——–Agencies