The African Union panel on the Sudans has given the two countries two weeks to implement the temporary agreements on the contentious Abyei region.

The High-Level Implementation Panel, comprising former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, former President of Burundi Pierre Buyoya and former President of Nigeria Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar, has also asked Sudan and South Sudan to engage each other and resolve the outstanding issues of Abyei and the rebellion in Southern Kordofan in six weeks.

The panel asked the two countries to implement the temporary agreements within two weeks, especially the establishment of the Abyei Area Administration and the Abyei Area Council.

(Read: South Sudan pulls out its forces from Abyei)

The report — released on October 22 — was approved by the AU Peace and Security Council three days later and will be forwarded to the UN Security Council in accordance with resolution 2046 that compels the two countries to agree on outstanding issues.

The successes of the negotiations since the two countries signed an agreement on oil transport fee and compensation in September include; cessation of hostilities, withdrawal of armed forces from the border, the two countries have stopped harbouring rebels, and are in the process of establishing a joint border monitoring unit.

However, the sticking points still remains Abyei and the rebellion in Southern Kordofan by the Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). Abyei was meant to hold a referendum at the same time as the south in January 2011, but was suspended when Khartoum insisted that the Misseriya had a right to vote.

The panel has now proposed that Abyei should hold a referendum in October 2013 and only the Misseriya residing in Abyei can participate in this vote. The nomadic Misseriya from the north cross into Abyei for six months every year for water and pasture around River Kiir.

According to the 2005 peace deal, the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms of Abyei, were to vote in a referendum to decide whether to remain part of northern Sudan or become part of the South Sudan. This has also affected the implementation of the 2011 agreement on temporary arrangement for the Administration and Security of the Abyei Area, that meant the election of the Speaker of the Abyei Area Legislative Council, which is still pending.

Officials of South Sudan are accusing Khartoum of delaying the implementation of this particular agreement, in that it refuses to appoint a Ngok Dinka for the position of speaker to the Abyei Legislative Council.

Khartoum had argued that the Abyei issue be decided through political agreement because it represents the link between the Africans in the south and Sudanese of Arab descent. Earlier proposal by the panel to divide Abyei equally between the two countries was rejected by South Sudan.

The AU Peace Security Council also resolved that Sudan and the SPLM-North should reach a negotiated settlement on how the rebel group can enter into a political partnership with the ruling National Congress Party. This matter is having a direct impact on another resolution that called for safe, unhindered and immediate access of United Nations and other humanitarian personnel as the delivery of supplies and equipment.