Sudan border ruling

Members of the delegation of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement are seen at the Great Hall of Justice at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. An international arbitration panel awarded the Sudanese government control over a large oil field, settling a boundary dispute with southern Sudan that led to bloodshed last year. The five-member Permanent Court of Arbitration affirmed the northern boundary of the Abyei region as set by a 2005 boundary commission, but drew new boundaries in the east and west that placed the Heglig oil fields and the Nile oil pipeline under control of the Khartoum government. (Ermindo Armino / Associated Press)

Sept. 16, 2014 3:21 PM PT

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Mission in Sudan, Ashraf Qazi (2nd from left, with glasses), Sudanese State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Abdul-Bagi Al-Jailani, center, and Foreign Minister Deng Alor, right, listen to the reading of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision on the Abyei boundary at the United Nations Mission in Sudan compound in Abyei. North and south Sudan have accepted the international arbitration court ruling altering the borders of the disputed oil-rich Abyei region, officials from the former foes said. (Tim McKulka / AFP/Getty Images)

Abyei residents march in celebration of the Hague panel’s decision governing their oil-rich region on Sudan’s north-south border. In 2011, according to a peace accord that ended a 21-year civil war, they can opt to join the south or north. (Tim McKulka / AFP/Getty Images)

Residents of Abyei, one displaying the flag of southern Sudan, celebrate the decision of the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration resolving the north-south boundary dispute that erupted into violence last year when government forces and former southern rebels clashed in Abyei. (Tim McKulka / Associated Press)