AU forms committee to investigate killing of Abyei chief

July 17, 2013 (JUBA) – The African Union (AU) has set up a committee to investigate and the circumstance of the killing of Abyei Paramount Chief last May, a South Sudanese official said on Wednesday.

The committee is made up of four members from Sudan, South Sudan, African Union and United Nations.

Judge Anil Gayan from Mauritius has been named Chair of the investigation. Other members include General Joseph Owonibi, Justice Deng Biong Mijak and a representative of the republic of Sudan.

The committee will be assisted by three support staff from the African union and the United Nations.

In its first meeting in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, the committee unanimously agreed to commence work by developing a work plan and terms of reference, said Justice Deng Biong Mijak who is also the chairperson of the South Sudan Public Grievances Chamber.

“The Joint Investigation Committee (JIC) to investigate the murder of late Paramount Chief Kuol Deng Kuol and indeed the entire security incident in Abyei Area on May, 4th, 2013, has finally started”, said justice said in a message seen by Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.

The committee, according to Mijak, “shall pay field visits to Juba, Abyei and Khartoum starting from next Friday. Its main task is to “establish the truth and motive behind the killing”.

The paramount chief of the Ngok Dinka, Kuol Deng Kuol and an Ethiopian peacekeeper were shot dead in an ambush by members of the rival nomadic Arab Misseriya tribe on 4 May, while they were travelling in a UNISFA convoy on their way back to Abyei town from a visit to an area further north.

(ST)