Sudan's parliament passed a law governing the oil-rich Abyei region's right to join a separate south or remain part of the north.

The dominant northern National Congress Party and the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which formed a coalition government after the 2005 deal, voted for the law. The law allows for the people of the central region to choose whether to remain in the north or join the south, which many analysts expect to secede in a simultaneous vote in January 2011.

It gives the Ngok Dinka tribe and other Sudanese who reside in Abyei the right to vote. A simple majority will decide the region's future

In a 2005 peace deal which ended more than two decades of civil war, Abyei was a major bone of contention and the region remains a possible flashpoint for a return to conflict, analysts say.

source: Reuters