War of words after scores killed in Abyei
March 3, 2008 (NAIROBI) — Fresh clashes between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement units and fighters from the Misseriya community in the oil-rich Abyei region have left scores dead and the two sides trading blame over who was responsible for the latest skirmishes.
At least 70 people were killed in the violence which occurred on 1 March in south Al-Mayram, aid workers in the Southern capital of Juba said.
The UN’s Radio Miraya quoted the head of the Abyei Liberation Front, Mohammed Omer Al-Ansari, as saying the clashes were in retaliation for recent SPLM attacks. But the SPLM Secretary in Abyei, Chol Chan, instead accused the Sudanese government in Khartoum of arming the Misseriya.
A senior SPLM leader and minister for presidential affairs in the government of Southern Sudan, Luka Biong, said the attacks were carried out by a group he named as the Popular Defense Forces, supported by the Sudan Armed Forces. He called for investigations into the clashes.
The weekend battles were only the latest in a series of incidents that have raised tensions in Abyei. In December 2007 and January 2008, violent clashes between the SPLA and the Misseriya resulted in the deaths of at least 75 people.
In a report to the UN Security Council on 19 February, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, warned that Abyei, which lies between North and South Sudan, was a possible troublespot from which conflict could resume.
Abyei has experienced an administrative and political vacuum after disagreements over its status since a comprehensive agreement was signed to end the civil war three years ago.
The people of Abyei, Qazi said, had been denied the dividends of peace since the signing of the agreement and had been deprived of an administrative structure and basic services related to the provision of security, education, health and employment.
Analysts have warned that no area in Sudan is perhaps more volatile and carries more implications for the country’s future than Abyei. According to the International Crisis Group, the risk of a return to war is rising because of the Abyei stalemate.
SPLM leaders say the North has ignored its proposals over Abyei because of oil revenues from the region – estimated at US$529 million in 2007. The government in Khartoum denies the claims.
(IRIN)
emadven
War of words after scores killed in Abyei
We all know that the Sudan government is behind that attacks.. How many time does it have to be said as a blame
James James
War of words after scores killed in Abyei
I am completely bewildered and interested to know the political objectives & strategies of the Abyei Liberation Front, there is a say in Murle that, “ma ina ki molowa ci ngao” means, don’t fail like woman sweat,(ie a woman can sweat very good, but still lack strong odor to scare animals away) whom do so called Abyei Liberation Front want to liberate? Because for the world to recognize them as ligitimate movement, they need to wake up and turn their barrels to Khartoum government who bribes them with the money from their own backyards for them to go and die like last week, that is what they should do, otherwise, they are just engaging themselves with unclear and fail war.
Fighting SPLA is not liberation, it rather be occupation attempt, because liberation is when the locals are fighting to liberate themselves from oppressors, but when you invade someone’s land without apparent aggreement from the locals, it is not liberation. They don’t also liberate themselves from SPLA either, because SPLA don’t oppress them nor do they loot their resources like Khartoum government.
So the name of their movement, do not match with the meaning of the real picture of what they are fighting for, to begin with, unless they redefine it to the world very clearly.
I hope these group get help somehere for them to face really enemy then being leery in the middle.
God bless.