ABYEI: Bashir wants it all
By Roger Winter
November 26, 2009 — Having visited Abyei on numerous occasions over the last fifteen years, it has become a place that I regularly go to see President Bashir and his National Congress Party at their predictable worst. Visually, the destruction of May 2008, when Abyei’s market and most of its homes were burned to the ground by Bashir’s 31st Sudan Armed Forces Brigade, were, of course, the most striking sights. Abyei’s civilians fled south, displaced once again. To top things off, the 31st blew up the facilities of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, the NCP’s ‘partner’ in the mis-named Government of National Unity. This wanton destruction by Khartoum’s forces was followed by both Parties presenting their cases to the Permanent Court of Arbitration(PCA) in the Hague. On July 22 of this year the PCA rendered its findings which both Parties committed to implement, including by properly demarcating the borders.
Ten days ago, for the second time since its destruction, I visited Abyei. It was an amazing yet devastating experience. What was amazing was the ‘new’ Abyei. To a very substantial degree, the recently-displaced population of Abyei has returned and those returnees have been supplemented by many others coming home after many years in exile. In addition, there is construction of new commercial and administration buildings going on such as has not existed in Abyei before, thanks to both private and donor investments, such as those from USAID. And then I saw Abyei’s new, vibrant market, full of people, full of goods, full of smiles and full of hope. Visiting different residential areas the vitality and the determination of the returnees was evident; their actions, words and energy all said to me, “This is our place; we are happy to be home!”.
But the dark storm clouds of Bashir and his NCP, along with the criminals of the 31st Brigade, are not far away. Both Bashir and his NCP have a perfect record insofar as agreements are concerned; they NEVER , EVER keep an agreement they sign. This brings us again to the PCA decision of last July which both the SPLM and the NCP pledged publically to implement. The plan was for an ‘Oversight Committee’ to be formed, which would report to the Presidency and oversee the actual workings of the demarcation team. The team was to consist of an equal number of experts from both sides and to be protected while carrying out its duties by members of a Joint Integrated Unit(JIU). In actuality, the Oversight Committee was never formed, the demarcation ‘leader’ is an NCP cadre who reports directly to Bashir, and the SAF Brigades, including the 31st that itself burned Abyei to the ground, chased away the JIUs assigned to protect the team. The SAF Brigades in the area are made up of men who are not at all objective as they come from the Misseriya community from which Bashir raised many Mujahideen to serve in his Popular Defense Forces. The SPLM members of the demarcation are clearly out-manned, alone and at risk. The process itself has been hi-jacked.
The task of the demarcation team is to lay out Abyei’s boundaries pursuant to the PCA decision. This involves working in the field, on the ground and in the air, to plot out and mark the boundaries with pillars and markers so that there is no question of the border’s location. The plan was to install between 25 and 30 major pillar markers along with smaller markers between pillars. So far, four pillars have been installed, all in southern locations. When visiting other areas for their preliminary work, the team has been threatened with death and bodily harm. The process is now at a standstill. The demarcation task was to have been completed in November.
Bashir has publically made promises to the Misseriya community about Abyei’s future. His promises are all at odds with the Abyei Protocol of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, not to mention the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He obviously couldn’t care less about demarcation. He wants Abyei and he wants it all.
Roger winter is former USAID manager and former US State Department special envoy for Sudan assigned to follow Darfur dossier and implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
Wende Yongaptheeth
ABYEI: Bashir wants it all
Roger Winter,
You are more then right and accurate to the point. What is happening in Abyei is a red flashing light and a time bomb for the CPA, unity of Sudan, genocide reminiscent to the one in Darfur and must be seen as so.
The potential fight fights blare-up in Abyei will engulped the entire Sudan and leads to secession of many states to independent from Ja’alyeen Al Beshir tribal Sudan.
This is Yugoslavirization of the Sudan into more then five independent states of Darfur, Nuba Mtns, South Blue Nile and South Sudan state. The remaining part of the part North will inverts and collapse on its own weight for lack of able man power to fight for its, lack of resources to sustain it and emergent of tribal rivalry between the Ja’alyeen, Danaqlas and Shaiqi.
Al Beshir is provocking the war against the most powerful SPLA and the NIF SAF is not going to win an all out full scale war against the SPLA because the SPLA this time round is going to have accrues disgruntled armed forces from other regions such as Darfur, Nuba Mtns, Blue Nile and itself the SPLA.
This is a red light run for Al Beshir which put him and his NIF SAF at risk and inevitable collapse and disintegration of the Sudan.
Time1
ABYEI: Bashir wants it all
Bashir is not serious about implementing CPA, signing the peace was just a way for them to get out of international pressure and try and clear their terrorism tainited name, they also thought they can silence the south by signing a peace deal then later they will ignore the peace and they will then have put out the liberation struggle. Now implementing the CPA was not in the plan of Omer bashir and his NCP party, they wanted to use it as a way out of their problems, so now that they realized that CPA will brining real change to Sudan in terms of democracy, freedom to marginalized and will threatened their grip in power so they decided they will not implement it fully or they want to revise some of the issues that was agreed on, like border demarcation, referendum, security bills and resource sharing.
I agree with Roger Winter that Bashir is just buying time but his real intention is to get everything for the NCP but not to make any concessions, he has been making promises to the messerieya that he will give them land and he will do alot of things for them, but he has not explained to them how he will give the messerieya the land o0f the Ngok dinka, so it is all false promises.
NCP has so far been mobilizing the messerieya to enter Abyie and cause chaos, they now want to force the messerieya Arabs back into Abyie to get invovled in the self determination elections in Abyie for 2011, meanwhiel the agreement in CPA states clearly that only peoples native to Abyie will have to decide, but NCP now wanted to include citizens or residence who are not native to Abyie to also vote in the elections hoping this will turn things their way.
They have been sabotaging the demarcation process, border officials are intimidated and also no cooperation from NCP side on all levels, considering the International court in Hague had asked both side to respect the AByie ruling and start immediately to implement the ruling, but NCP has so far refused to implement or cooperate in that issues.
Implementing the CPA in full is not in the interests of NCP, because this will set a road map for evacuation of NCP from power peacefully, they are afriad and they want to stay in power even if it will cost the Sudanese peoples their lifes, NCP does not want peace in Sudan, they only want to stay in power as a dictatorship regime, they are not interested in democracy or any other form of change, four years now we have not seen any positive change from NCP towards a democratic Sudan, everything is still the same.
Akuma
ABYEI: Bashir wants it all
Dear Roger,
In Northern Sudan rule by regime of BAshir, they claim that Abyei belon to north but i think doesn’t belong North because Abyei belong to Southern Sudan.
What make Abyei to be in Northern Sudan is due to tax pay be cause their leaders were forces to pay tax to northern part becasue of long distance.
Are there Dinka tribe in Northern if Arab are not fool?, All Abyei people are even fooling themselves, they consider outsiders to help them while they just SPLM to talk on their behalfs, How foolish are they?. Here Prof. Francis cliam to Abyei origin, and he let to be dominate by Arabs.
Bashir need Abyei beacuse of Oil present, once there the oil is allocate somewhere them in Abyei, there could be no commotion development among.
What interested in Abyei is oil.
There is no possibility that Abyei belong to Northern Apart because they are Dinka by cogent/origin rather than stupid Arabs ideology.
Please let Abyei do their part and Government of Southern Sudan will help them.
Dr. AKUMA. Chicago USA