Abyei, reality of the situation on the ground
By Dr. Justin Ambago Ramba, MD.
May 29, 2008 — The Misseriya nomadic Arabs and the Dinka Ngok have recently dominated the media due to the continuous frictions between the two sides. Going back into history the two groups have existed side by side for hundreds of years and it has nothing to do with whether Abyei is in the south Sudan or a part of Kordofan in the North. All the Arab nomadic tribes in the border areas are indeed aware of the importance of their southern neighbours and how their nomadic ways of leaving has no doubt entangled their very lives with their immediate South Sudanese African next door neighbours.
Inter – tribal disputes are not unique to the Misseriya and the Ngok Dinka
All nomadic tribes by virtue of their ways of life are always involved in inter-tribal conflicts especially when good pasture becomes competitive and I believe that the African and Arab tribes in the Abyei area are no exception.
However, if there were no any government at all the interacting groups would have found solutions to their daily problems as necessitated by their quest for a peaceful co-existence. This is how human beings have ever existed on this earth.
The Misseriya were deceived and promised the monopoly of Abyei by Khartoum
As for the case of Abyei , the Nyok and the Messiriya have been living side by side though with problems here and there. Unfortunately since the beginning of the civil war in 1983 , the relationship between the two groups turned sour. The successive Khartoum governments have manipulated the relationship between the people of Abyei in an attempt to block the northward spread of the SPLM/A.
Islam as a religion has been maximumally used by the Central government , thus pitting the Messiriya against the Dinka, while the Misseriya know very well that they can not do without their Dinka neighbours. The Misseriya were given arms in order to drive the Dinkas out of the Abyei area with an assumption that by doing so they could have the whole area to themselves.
This short-sighted policies have now led the Misseriyas to sacrifice the old inter -relationship with the Ngok.
There is no difference between the Misseriya, the Nuba or the Southern Sudanese.
Now the deadlock in the implementation of the Abyei Protocol have nothing to do with the Messiriya nomads nor the Ngok Dinka.
Both these groups are amongst the most marginalized peoples of the Sudan no different from their fellow black Sudanese Africans of the Nuba Mountains , Darfur and the Southern Blue Nile region just like the South Sudanese at large. The real policy makers are right there in Khartoum , the Gezira and the Northern Sudan.
All the controversial policies which have been confusing the entire of the Sudanese masses has although been decided to fulfil and satisfy only the bourgeoisie elites of the three dangerous northern Arab ethnic groups of Danagla, Shaigiya and The Jaaliyien at the expense of all the other Sudanese groups.
The unfortunate Misseriyas who are now fighting the Khartoum war by proxy are no better than any Nuba , Dinka, Darfuri or the other peoples of South Sudan.
The Misseriya are brainwashed to yet fight another holly war with the south
The implementation of the Abyei Protocol embodied in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) is the best way to tackle any problems on the ground in the Abyei Administrative Region. But no wonder and typical of Arabs, Khartoum wants to keep the Messiriya busy with the SPLM/ Ngok Denka while it loots the Oil. Otherwise the Messiriya Arabs should seek to live in harmony with the neighbours and together they should work to implement the Peace Protocol.
Sadly enough the Misseriya has allowed itself to be used against its immediate southern Sudanese neighbours who control the river Kiir (Bahar Arab) and the green pastures which without , the Misseriya will be reduced to mere workers and beggars in the streets of Khartoum, El Obeid and Wad Medani .
Though as I write this fact now, the truth is that the Misseriya have underwent a through brainwashing to the extend that they are ready to go to war with the Nation of South Sudan, yet another Khartoum Holly War.
Only with pressure from US, UN and the International community can Khartoum accept to implement the Abyei Protocol
It was clear right from the beginning that the Abyei Issue was indeed a difficult one to settle at the peace talks in Naivasha because of the basic fact that the relationships between the south and north Sudanese have reached a state that whatsoever agreements signed are prone to violation.
The Islamist government is buying time to extract as much oil from the south Sudanese wells including the Abyei Administrative area prior to the referendum. To do this it has to keep the southern administration busy with issues like implementation of the Abyei protocol, almost amounting to a total renegotiation of the entire CPA.
The ABYEI peace protocol can only be implemented by external pressure from the UN and the US government and this fact is known to both sides. If the international community allows the situation to slide back into war then it will really be unfortunate as the whole of the African continent will this time be involved.
The Oil which was expected to smoothen the road to peace in the Sudan is unfortunately now being used by National Islamic Front to maintain power in Khartoum over the skull of the poor masses.
People of South Sudan Support your brothers and sisters from Abyei
I call upon all the people of south Sudan in the different towns of the Sudan to show solidarity with their brothers and sisters from Abyei who lost their loved ones and homeland. WE have to assure them that we are by their side at this terrible time in our joint history of struggle as south Sudanese. One day we shall have our independent nation and that day we shall take our revenge a double measure.
We shall live to see where the Messiriya Arabs want to go and feed their cattle. If Khartoum can offer them with the pasture and water as an alternative to south Sudan, then I assume that they will have nothing to regret.
It is better now for them to think of their future in black and white. If they miss this opportunity to normalise with the south before the decisive referendum , unfortunately our borders may not be permeable by then.
The author is a Sudanese doctor living in the UK and can be reached at: [email protected].