Sudan conflict has “put on hold” political process on Abyei status
November 6, 2023 (NEW YORK) – The mid-April outbreak of armed conflict in Sudan interrupted encouraging signs of dialogue between Sudan and South Sudan and hence effectively put on hold the political process with regard to the final status of Abyei and border issue, a top UN official said.
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations made the remarks while briefing the Security Council on the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) on Monday.
The briefing provided highlights on the latest political, security and humanitarian developments, including the impact of ongoing fighting in Sudan on agreement on the final status of the disputed oil-producing area.
Lacroix said Sudan and South Sudan must respect the demilitarization of Abyei and evacuate their forces.
“The United Nations, in close coordination with the African Union, remains ready to support a resumption of dialogue and is monitoring the situation for the conditions that might allow for this,” he told the Council.
The offical expressed concerns about the influx of civilians fleeing fighting in Sudan.
“The UN Mission has also seen increased weapons circulation in Abyei, a situation that may have been exacerbated by the situation in the Sudan,” he said.
According to Lacroix, the conflict in Sudan has also created economic hardship for the population of the disputed oil-producing region as the flow of basic goods and commodities, many of which came from the north, has been disrupted.
He said UNISFA has helped extend humanitarian support to an estimated 220,000 people in the central and southern parts of Abyei, including those displaced in intercommunal clashes and those fleeing the fighting in Sudan.
The fighting, Lacroix added, created challenges for the UNISFA-supported Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism (JBVMM), which ensures peace in the demilitarized zone along the border between Sudan and South Sudan.
“While aerial patrolling has been halted due to airspace restrictions, JBVMM personnel remain in place and ground monitoring in the border area continues,” he stressed.
The senior UN official, however, said the presence of approximately 200 South Sudan People’s Defence Force and South Sudan National Police Service personnel in southern Abyei, and an estimated 60 Sudanese police officers protecting oil assets in northern Abyei, pose a continuing challenge for UNISFA.
He called on authorities in Sudan and South Sudan to withdraw their personnel.
Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Horn of Africa said the current conditions are not conducive for talks on final status of Abyei.
“The [earlier] progress that was made unfortunately was not something that we could build upon,” she remarked, adding that “Key Sudanese and South Sudanese leaders have not expressed the desire to engage on these topics”.
The envoy said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is fighting the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Sudan, is now getting closer to Abyei.
She added that representatives of the Abyei communities, well aware of the adverse consequences of the fighting on the prospect of resuming talks, expressed the need to keep Abyei on the UN and African Union’s agenda.
Amb. Robert Wood, the US Special Affairs representative said Washington appreciates UNISFA’s tireless efforts to implement its mandated tasks to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid throughout its troop reconfiguration and in the face of unprecedented challenges.
He said the continued presence of South Sudanese and Sudanese armed groups in Abyei present a destabilizing factor for civilians in Abyei and threaten Abyei’s demilitarized status.
“UNISFA peacekeepers are the only force that should operate in Abyei. We call on all armed groups to depart the region, and call on the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan to instruct their forces to evacuate Abyei,” stressed Wood.
The US official condemned attacks on UNISFA, calling for the appropriate authorities to investigate them and to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Abyei is an area on the border between South Sudan and the Sudan that has been accorded special administrative status by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudan’s civil war.
Under terms of the Abyei Protocol, part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), residents of Abyei have been declared, on an interim basis, to be simultaneously citizens of Sudan’s West Kordofan State and South Sudan’s Northern Bahr el Ghazal State until its final status is determined through a referendum.
(ST)