ABYEI: Eight killed people during clash between police and Messeriya

By Ngor Arol Garang

June 12, 2010 (AGOK) — A deadly clash between the police and armed Messeriya nomads identified as Awaled Umaran killed eight people in the oil-rich town of Abyei on Saturday.

Four others have sustained serious injures in the clash which occurred in the extreme north of Abyei in the village of Maker Abior at six o’clock in the morning.

Abyei chief administrator, Deng Arop Kuol, told Sudan Tribune that some armed groups clashed with the joint police post in the area.

“They have killed one policeman and left another seriously injured in the stomach and I do not have any information on the other side but I believe there maybe casualties because there was blood and foot prints of individuals who have bled profusely,” said Kuol.

General Kuol Deim Kuol, the SPLA spokesman in Juba, also confirmed the clash, adding that on Friday, a police reconnaissance received information of an attack in the area with armed Messeriya nomads .

“There were no casualties on both sides in the first attack, however, they went and regrouped themselves for another attack this morning. This is the attack that I am told killed one policeman and left another with serious injuries. On their side, I have not received any information but I am told there were serious injuries,” said General Kuol.

Hassan Musa, one of the Messeriya leaders in Muglad, equally confirmed the clash and denied that it is part of an organized attack over territorial disputes between the Messeriya and the Dinka Ngok of Abyei.

He also condemned the clash saying the responsible were some individuals from Awaled Umaran whose cattle were taken in a clash in Unity State.

“That attack has nothing to do with the Messeriya leadership in general and we have already communicated their activities to Abyei’s Chief Administrator prior to launching the attack on the area,” he said.

He stressed they informed Abyei’s Chief Administrator Deng Arop Kuol with his deputy Raham Abdurrahman about the activities of these people before the attack.

“We called them because we are not part of their activities and plan on taking revenge after what happened in Unity state because Abyei is not part of Unity state,” explained Musa.

He added that he has information that 7 people from Awaled Umaran have been killed and 3 others have been wounded in critical conditions in Muglad.

Earlier, Kuol said that several armed groups and bandits are spreading fears and chaos in many parts of the oil-rich region.

“Reports of regular stops and attacks on civilians using public transports from Khartoum to Abyei are resulting in killings and looting. These activities are also forcing people to flee their homes for safety in neighboring areas. Hundreds of thousands of residents have already been displaced, putting pressure on impoverished host communities,” added Kuol.

Maker Abior lies in the extreme north of South-Eastern part of Muglad town of South Kordofan State in Central Sudan. It is home to the former Sudanese Foreign Affairs Minister, Deng Alor, and close to the contested border lines.

3,000 persons lived in Maker before May’s attack in which many towns were burned to ashes following a clash between the Southern army and Sudan’s armed forces over the control of the area , but because of the lack of security in neighboring areas, there are now less than 2,000 people living there.

Half of them are in shelters on the outskirts of Agok, too terrified to return to their villages until their safety is assured. Roads into Maker are impassible during the rainy season and the movement of locals selling commercial goods has virtually stopped.

Food is scarce and access to the area is very limited. The village is one of the hardest hit areas in the region as it struggles further in the face of enduring security problems which disrupts local populations and hampers political advances and development.

?In many areas at the border lines including Maker, local populations are forming armed groups to defend themselves and their communities. They are even managing to create guns from the most basic materials. The violence and subsequent displacement is occurring against the backdrop of chronic poverty and lack of public health, education and transport infrastructure.

The situation is further exacerbated by the return of thousands of internally- displaced persons from neighboring states such as Unity, Warrap, Northern Bahr el Ghazal as well as Khartoum and other Northern states.

Residents of Maker are living with fear of attacks by armed bandits and roving groups. The identity of the perpetrators is often unclear, adding to the confusion of a terrorized population.??

In an interview with Sudan Tribune at Agok, Deng Biong Arop said that he lost his wife and his sister during Abyei’s clash.

“My wife and my sister were both murdered as they were in the area collecting firewood. Their bodies were discovered much later by hunters.”

He is left to care for his children in a tiny makeshift shelter with no means of making a living, and no immediate prospects of returning home. He received financial support from his older brothers living in Juba and abroad.?

(ST)