North and South Sudan Sign Agreement over Abyei

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir signed an agreement Sunday, ending a violent standoff over the oil-rich Abyei region. In the agreement signed in Khartoum, the two leaders agreed to constitute a new joint administration for the region and allow an international arbitration body to draw the contested territorial border. The new administration will be headed by a southerner and a deputy head from the north. This halts a spate of violent clashes between northern and southern forces in Abyei, which have killed at least 22 soldiers, displaced 90,000 civilians and brought the country to the brink of a new civil war. [P.E]