Ethiopia hosts crucial meeting on Abyei between North & South Sudan
October 2, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Delegations from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) are set to meet on Sunday in a new bid to break the deadlock over the oil-rich region of Abyei that lies on the North-South borders.
The borders of Abyei were redrawn by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) after the NCP & SPLM agreed to refer the matter to it. However, the technical commission mandated with demarcating the borders on the ground have yet to start the process because of threats levelled by the Arab Misseriya tribe who objected to the PCA ruling.
The tribunal ceded key oilfields to north Sudan but gave the South most of the land including Abyei town which has huge areas of fertile land and one significant oilfield.
A referendum is supposed to be held in Abyei in 2011 on whether it should join the north or south. The SPLM & NCP failed to resolve their disagreement over the composition Abyei’s electoral commission means it is unlikely to happen on time, if at all.
Furthermore, the SPLM in control of the South has interpreted the ruling as meaning that the cattle-herding Misseriya tribe have no right to vote in areas assigned by the PCA to the Dinka Ngok. However, the Misseriya vowed not to allow the vote to take place even if they have to resort to force unless they are allowed to participate.
This week, the U.S. revealed that both the North and the South held meeting on the issue of Abyei on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Washington indicated that they are inching closer to sealing a deal during their discussions in Ethiopia.
“[W]e would expect that the parties should come to the meeting prepared to reach an agreement on Abyei” U.S. State Department spokesperson Phillip J. Crowley told reporters.
Crowley said that the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Sudan’s 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi ahead of Sunday’s talks. Zenawi pledged to Clinton that he would do “everything he could to encourage the parties to reach an agreement on Abyei,” Crowley said.
“We are very conscious of the fact that we have just about 100 days remaining (before the referendum), and Abyei is one of the central issues that has to be resolved before we can hope for a successful referendum early in 2011,” he said.
The U.S. top diplomat urged Khartoum “to come to Addis Ababa on Sunday prepared to negotiate and to make sure that the negotiating team will have specific authority to reach agreement on Abyei,” Crowley said.
The Obama administration’s special envoy for Sudan, Scott Gration, and Ambassador Princeton Lyman, a veteran U.S. diplomat recently drafted to help mediate the talks, will also participate in the Addis Ababa discussions, Crowley said.
A proposal put forward by the U.S. suggests that only Dinka Ngok will vote in the referendum as only those who resided continuously over the last year will be eligible to register. Furthermore, the oil produced in the region will be shared between the two sides.
The initiative also states that the Abyei referendum commission should be established no later than October 4th.
(ST)
murlescrewed
Ethiopia hosts crucial meeting on Abyei between North & South Sudan
Ethiopia should deal with its own border issue with Eritrea before trying to resolve the same problem in Sudan. The PCA ruling was binding on both parties and NCP accepted the ruling. Now that the chances of unity are hopeless, the NCP walking back on its pledge and trying to create a problem out of thin air. Why is South not complaining even though the PCA ruling removed an oilfield from Unity and put in in S. Kordofan?
Mr Point
Let the residents of Muglad vote in Muglad
On 29 September 2,000 Missiriya demonstrated in the central town of Muglad and handed a list of demands to the UN office there including reviewing Abyei’s borders and their right to vote in the plebiscite. Mokhtar Babo Nimr head of the missiriya said “We will use force to achieve our rights and we will use weapons against anyone who tries to stop us from voting in the referendum”
The Abyei conference in Ethiiopia must deal with this threat to the peaceful process of voting. It should prevent fraudulent misrepresentation by people who are not in the voting process.
Why were all these people demonstrating in Muglad? They were not in Abyei. THEY ARE NOT RESIDENTS OF ABYEI!
They are not entitled to vote.
The registration process must prevent people from being to allowed twice: once in Abyei and once again in Muglad.