The UN Security Council renewed Thursday for another six months the mandate of its peacekeeping operation in the Abyei region, which has oil resources claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, according to dpa. The 3,800-strong mission was deployed in June 2011 to monitor security in Abyei, which forms a border between the two countries and is supposed to be a demilitarized zone. South Sudan broke away from the north in July 2011, ending decades of civil war. But the sides failed to agree on key issues, including border demarcation and sharing oil revenues.
