UNISFA calls for high-level engagement to defuse tension in Abyei area
September 27, 2022 (JUBA) – The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has called for high-level engagement to defuse tension and escalation of renewed clashes in the disputed region.
UNISFA’s acting Head of the Mission and area force commander expressed concerns over renewed clashes between the Twic and Ngok Dinka communities in Agok area.
“A report received by UNISFA leadership indicates that the clashes between the two groups started at about 1630 hours on 23 September 2022, leading to an influx of over 223 people seeking protection at the Agok COB,” partly reads a statement issued on Monday.
The mission, in the statement Sudan Tribune obtained, strongly condemned the attack, saying it can only contribute to more tension and chances of renewed violence in the area.
UNISFA’s force commander, Major Gen. Benjamin Olufemi Sawyerr, called on the Abyei Chief Administrator and the Ngok Dinka Paramount Chief to engage with their counterparts in Warrap State and officials from the government of South Sudan to step up efforts to diffuse the tension and find a political solution to the clashes.
“He [Sawyerr] also appealed to the youths from both sides to refrain from the use of violence, to voice their opinions, and embrace UNISFA’s peace initiative as a means of easing tension in the area,” the statement added.
UNIFA further said that humanitarian partners are providing aid to those displaced despite challenges of access while the peacekeeping mission increases aerial patrols around Agok to monitor the situation.
Clashes between members of the Ngok Dinka of Abyei and members of Twic, a section of ethnic Dinka in Warrap State in South Sudan resumed over the weekend, resulting in the destruction of properties and displacement of people, mostly elderly people, and women with children to either Abyei town where UNISFA provides protection or retreat south of Abyei town into areas of Twic county.
The displacement has created an additional burden on the host community, also facing natural calamities of inundated floodings.
Authorities in Sudan and South Sudan have not commented on the latest clashes.
The 1972 peace agreement, which ended the first civil war in Sudan, contained a provision that encouraged the President of Sudan to issue an executive order to return Abyei from Kordofan to which it was in 1905 to Bahr el Ghazal State in South Sudan. This provision was never utilised, yet it was an opportunity.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) also gave Abyei a special place with a protocol permitting the conduct of a referendum for natives whether to maintain the status quo or choose to return to South Sudan. The referendum was never held.
(ST)