SPLM says Abyei cannot be left as part of the north

January 31, 2011 (JUBA) – An official from south Sudan’s ruling party said Monday that there is “no way” the disputed border region of Abyei could be left as part of north Sudan. Bol Makueng, described citizens of Abyei as part of the South and that there was no reason to leave them as part of the north under any circumstances.

Sudan’s south is due to separate from the north after successfully completing a self determination referendum. After decades of war, the south was granted the right to secede in a 2005 peace deal between former southern rebels the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

A parallel referendum was due to be held in Abyei, to decide the future of the fertile oil-producing region. However, the vote did not take place as the SPLM refused to accept the NCP’s demand that the Misseriya tribe, who enter the region to graze their cattle for a few months of the year, be allowed to vote.

The SPLM maintain that the Dinka Ngok tribe are native to the area and are the only group who should be allowed to vote in the Abyei referendum. The Dinka Ngoka are a branch of southern Sudan’s largest ethnic group, the Dinka, and largely identify themselves as southerners despite Abyei physically being in northern Sudan.

Under the Abyei Protocol of the 2005 peace agreement, gave the region the opportunity to annex itself to the south from where it was transferred from South Kordofan state in 1905 by British administrators.

Makueng told Sudan Tribune: “Liberation is won. The citizens of Abyei are pure south Sudanese by identity. There is no question about that. They are part and parcel of south Sudan and the liberation struggle. They went to the war twice with the people of south Sudan because of Abyei. So, there is no way we can leave behind [Abyei] in the north comes what may.”

While in Abyei January, Sudan Tribune observed that many people were heavily armed. Some villages are largely deserted due to conflict. In the run up to south’s referendum on January 9, armed Misseriya clashed with Abyei security forces, resulted in over 30 deaths. The conflict was triggered, according to some Misseriya leaders, because they had heard that the region was planning on conducting a unilateral referendum to enable it join what will be a newly-independent south Sudan.

“There are no civilians in this area,” said John Ajang, the acting secretary general of Abyei’s local government, refering to Tajalei, near the border with South Kordofan, in an interview with Sudan Tribune on 15 January.

He accused the Missiriyia of creating road blocks and attacking buses travelling from the north to the south carrying internally displaced persons.

“Commercial trucks with good and vehicles carrying our internally displaced persons coming home through Misseriya areas are routinely sprayed with gunfire. Several passengers have been killed. Roads are closed,” said Ajang.

United Nations officials in Abyei who did not want to be named, as they had not been authorized to speak to the media, on Sunday described the security situation to be relatively calm.

One UN official told Sudan Tribune: “At the movement, the security situation is relatively come. The new Joint Integrated Units from Wau are moving into the area. There have been no immediate security concerns during the last two weeks at the border areas.” Joint Integrated Units, established after the peace deal, consist of both the southern army (SPLA) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) controlled by Khartoum.

The UN official said that they have reports from a patrol force that a large crowd of armed men with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and machetes, amassed north of Abyei town in Difra on Friday. But he said the patrol were not permitted to meet the group.

Talks over the emotionally charged future of the border region have failed to establish a commission to run the Abyei referendum and neither party appears willing to change their position on who can vote. Many in Abyei fears that the referendum in the region will not take place.

Analysts say that conflict in the region could trigger renewed hostilities between the north and south if the status of Abyei and the rights of the Misseriya to enter the region are agreed at a local and national politcal level.

(ST)