Returns of displaced meets Christmas celebrations in Abyei
By Ngor Arol Garang
December 24, 2010 (ABYEI) – The massive return of internally displaced persons who fled the oil producing region of Abyei at the height of the over two decades of north-south civil war has coincided with annual Christian celebrations.
Abyei, on the northern side of the north-south border is also supposed to hold a plebiscite to decide whether it will join, what is widely expected to be, an independent south. However, the Abyei vote has been put in serious jeopardy the failure to establish a commission to run the vote or agree who is allowed to take part.
On Thursday night approximately 3,000 internally displaced persons from Khartoum entered Abyei on Christmas Eve according to local officials. The return was part of the repatriation process sponsored by the regional government of south Sudan largely led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Speaking to Sudan Tribune at the receipt point in Abyei town on Friday, Miyang Chol Alor, one of the returnees thanked the local administration for facilitating their return to celebrate Christmas Day with relatives.
“I am extremely pleased and very much happy to sincerely thank Abyei chief administrator, Justice Deng Arop Kuol, for making it one of his priorities to facilitate our return. We have been wondering when and how to return. There are a lot of other people in Khartoum and in other north states wanting to come but cannot afford voluntary return,” said Alor.
Alor said he is certainly happy because he has since he left Abyei many years ago he had celebrated Christmas Day outside his home area.
“I am extremely happy because I am going to celebrate this Christmas day with relatives whom I have never celebrated Christmas together with them for many years since I left Abyei,” said Alor.
South Sudan is mainly Christian, whereas the north is predominantly Muslim although it is home to Coptic Christians and displaced southern Sudanese.
Speaking to Sudan Tribune from the provincial capital of Wau, the capital of Western Bahr el Ghazal Bishop Deng Majak, a Roman Catholic bishop of Wau diocese, explained that Christmas is a time that we are reminded of the greatest love of all.
“It is celebrated and observed by many, including those who do not believe in God or in His son, Jesus Christ. Members of most Orthodox Churches around the world also celebrate the holiday on December 25. Some Orthodox Christians in Russia, Ukraine, the Holy Land (the historic region of Palestine) and elsewhere celebrate Christmas on January 7 because they follow the Julian calendar.
“Members of the Armenian Church observe Christmas on January 6, following the unique custom of celebrating both the birth and baptism of Christ on the same day,” explained bishop Majak.
The bishop further said the official Christmas season, popularly known as either Christmastide or the Twelve Days of Christmas, extends from the anniversary of Christ’s birth on December 25 to the Feast of Epiphany on January 6.
(ST)