According to the ruling, the borders of Abyei will be redrawn on the eastern and western sides, while the northern border will remain intact. This grants the North control over most major oil reserves and grazing land in the area.
Abyei is claimed by both the North and the South and the question of its borders are seen as a stumbling block in implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in 2005 between North Sudan and South Sudan.
Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, an analyst for Middle East and Africa at the Eurasia group, said the decision over the borders of Abyei is a positive step in cementing the peace agreement.
“At least on the surface, it looks like the north probably got more out of this than they thought,” he told The Media Line.
Spio-Garbrah argued, however, that the agreement would “augur well” for some form of cooperation in the near future on joint development of the fields, as if oil fields in Abyei had been awarded exclusively to the north or the south, this would have thwarted chances of cooperation.
A unity government in Sudan was created after the peace agreement was signed, bringing an end to 20 years of fighting in which nearly two million people were killed.
The South was given semiautonomous status, but the status of Abyei was left unresolved.
There have been violent flare-ups in Abyei since the peace agreement was signed, including a batter in May of 2008 in which 22 northern soldiers were killed and thousands of residents were displaced.
Last year, the Sudanese government, based in the northern capital Khartoum, challenged the boundaries. Former rebels in the South then referred the dispute to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
There was speculation that the ruling could re-ignite tensions between North and South and undermine the peace agreement.
The central government in Sudan said it would respect the ruling and called the decision a step forward.
Former southern rebels also said the court decision was acceptable.
Ashraf Qazi, special representative of the United Nations secretary general for Sudan said the decision was binding on both parties.
“This will pave the way for the peaceful implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as a whole,” he said. “The rights of both communities have been guaranteed as a matter of international law.”
He congratulated both sides for their cooperation and for committing themselves to a peaceful implementation of the final decision.
South Sudan is expected to hold a referendum in 2011 to decide whether to become an independent state. A referendum will also be held in Abyei over whether it will belong to the North or South.
The lands in question are inhabited by the Dinka people, seen as southerners, and the Misseriyya Arabs, regarded as northerners.
Peter Dixon, chief executive of Concordis International, said his organization had recently completed consultations for representatives on both sides on issues regarding border sharing.
“There’s a great deal of good will on the Misseriya and the Dinka sides not to allow this judgment to be a means of dividing them further,” he told The Media Line.
Concordis has been active in Sudan for ten years, working with people at all levels of society on issues related to conflict.