The UN Security Council expressed its deep concern on Thursday over the recent fighting in Abyei in southern Sudan and condemned the use of violence.
Li Baodong, China's ambassador to the UN who holds the rotating Council presidency for March, issued the press statement here following a meeting of the 15-member body.
At least 70 people were killed on Wednesday in the oil- producing region of Abyei. Despite a referendum in January in which South Sudan voted to secede from the North, the status of Abyei remains unresolved.
The referendum marks the final phase of the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which concluded 20 years of war between the northern-based government in Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in the south.
The Council "underlined the urgent need for a political agreement on the status of Abyei in the framework of ongoing discussions between the CPA parties," said the statement.
The powerful world body "urged the parties in Abyei to cooperate with the UN mission in Sudan and that it assists them in resolving their differences," the statement said.