Sudan president vows to hold disputed oil-rich state

KHARTOUM, Nov 8 (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir vowed Saturday to never let a contested oil-rich region which is key to a final peace deal with southern rebels slip from government hands.

Beshir was apparently reacting to a demand earlier in the day by a powerful tribe that its territory in Abyei be ceded from Western Kordofan state and be made part of the southern state of Bahr al-Ghazal.

“Abyei has never been part of Bahr el-Ghazal and will therefore remain part of Kordofan,” Beshir said in a nationally televised speech marking a military anniversary from El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan state.

The president said the move would wreck administrative boundaries set up when Sudan obtained its independence in 1956.

“We will not accept any amendment to those boundaries,” said Beshir.

Earlier in the day, the Al Ayam daily said a branch of the powerful Dinka tribal confederation, which is very strong in Abyei, had demanded the area become part of Bahr el-Ghazal.

Khartoum and the rebel Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) last year signed a preliminary peace accord at talks in Kenya allowing for a period of autonomy of six years for the south at which point a referendum on self-determination would be organized.

Under the terms of the Machakos accord, if Khartoum agreed to cede the Dinka Ngok’s territory, it would effectively extend the region to be granted self-rule and Abyei fall into the hands of the south.

Abyei, along with two other contested regions — the Nuba Mountains and the southern Blue Nile — are among the main stumbling blocks to a comprehensive peace deal the sides have committed themselves to signing by the end of the year to end Africa’s longest-running civil war.

Parts of all three contested areas are controlled by the government and parts by the SPLA.

The rebels have long claimed Abyei, which fought alongside it for much of the civil war.

The war takes place against a background of domination of the mainly black African, animist or Christian south by the Arab, Islamic north, but has become increasingly driven by a fight for control of natural resources, notably oil.

Coupled with famine and disease, the conflict has claimed at least 1.5 million lives, with at least another four million displaced, according to humanitarian sources.

The Dinka is the country’s biggest Nilotic tribe. They are scattered across the country but are dominant in Bahr el-Ghazal.

SPLA leader John Garang is a Dinka from the Bor branch, located mainly in Jonglei, to the east of Bahr el-Ghazal.