Opposition SPLM-DC wants Abyei referendum recognised

March 23, 2016 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s main opposition party, SPLM-DC, has urged the masses to put pressure on government to clarify whether the disputed Abyei region belongs to South Sudan or not.

The disputed oil-producing region of Abyei was annexed to north Sudan in 1905 for administrative reasons, but belongs to the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms.

However, a protocol within the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, stipulated that a referendum on Abyei be conducted simultaneously with that of South Sudan.

In October 2013, Abyei residents voted overwhelmingly to join South Sudan in an unofficial referendum not recognised by the two Sudans.

“We call on all parties to respect the outcome of the referendum conducted in Abyei in 2013,” SPLM-DC said in a statement.

The now sacked foreign affairs minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin came under attack after he referred to people from Abyei as “Sudanese”, in a letter to the United Nations human rights body.

The SPLM-DC insisted the 9 March, 2016 letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in response to the Assessment Mission to Improve Human Rights, Accountability, Reconciliation and Capacity in South Sudan, which Marial signed lacked “the depth and rigour required to address such a report of the United Nations.”

The party said it was “irresponsible” for the foreign minister to refer to Luka Biong Deng, a former minister for the presidency, as a Sudanese.

“This irresponsible statement means that Dr. Luka Biong has become a Sudanese in the eyes of the Government of South Sudan because he hails from Abyei,” said the SPLM-DC.

Marial was on Wednesday sacked by President Salva Kiir, in what analysts directly linked to his signing of the letter addressed to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

(ST)