Abyei civil society demands immediate stoppage of Misseriya settlement

By Ngor Arol Garang

March 15, 2011 (ABYEI) – Civil society organisations from the oil producing contested region of Abyei said on Monday they were “deeply concerned” by the continued settlement of the members of the Misseriya tribe in territorial boundary awarded to the Nine Dinka Ngok Chiefdom, by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2009, and that demanded immediate stoppage of the activities.

The group, predominantly represented by churches; community based organisations; youth and women groups; as well as political activists and students from different academic backgrounds in the area, expressed concerns over the “continued settlement” by members of the Misseriya tribe in areas identified by the Permanent Court of Arbitration as belonging to the Nine Dinka Ngok, as “illegitimate” and an obstacle to peaceful coexistence between.

The petition entitled “No to Occupation” is addressed to the US President with copies to Security Council of the United Nations and the Sudanese Presidency, also calls for the unconditional withdrawal of the Sudan Armed Forces allegedly present in the territory belonging to the nine Dinka Ngok chiefdoms.

“This is exactly the work of the National Congress Party [NCP]. No one else is doing this. They are deliberately settling Misseriya in areas where oil is being drilled so that they can use it as justification to claim they belong to the Misseriya, by making settlements for them”, said Deng Abiem, member of the State Legislative Assembly in Warrap, in a telephone interview with Sudan Tribune from Kuajok on Monday.

“They have tried to legitimise this time and again through funding settlements of the Misseriya from the national treasury”, he said, before condemning clashes which occurred in the area in late February and the first week of March, 2011 and described it as “despicable, immoral and inhuman.”

“While the area is still reeling from the repeated gruesome attacks, in which a lot of lives were lost as several other sustained injuries and are still in their beds in health centres seeking medical care, the government in Khartoum continues to arm and finance settlement programs encouraging members of the Misseriya to building more houses in areas awarded to the Nine Dinka Ngok chiefdoms by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague”, he continued.

Miyen Alor Kuol, a senior member of the SPLM in the area said on Sunday during a condolence call to the grieving family, “They burn and we build. They kill and we never run away to abandon our ancestral lands, even if the situation forces some of our vulnerable groups in the area to flee. We have never gone far. We have always remained in the same territorial boundary”.

Khartoum backed armed militiamen are accused by official Abyei administration and the SPLM leadership of participating in the recent clashes in which locals and officials from the area say 153 were killed and several others from both sides of the conflict were reported injured.

The repeated armed confrontations often blamed on members of the rival Misseriya tribe and the continued construction has scuppered initiatives for a peaceful settlement.

Talks over Abyei remains stalled as the SPLM on Sunday announced it was suspending negotiations on the remaining outstanding issues in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and post referendum arrangements with the NCP, claiming it has sufficient evidence that Khartoum wants to topple the Juba based government.

“We had to suspend talks with the National Congress Party,” said Pagan Amum, Secretary General of the SPLM in a televised statement on South Sudan Television on Sunday.

“We have more than enough evidence showing all plans and activities of the National Congress Party to destabilise peace in the south”, he said.

Amum, who holds an additional position as minister of peace and CPA implementation in the regional administration, said the SPLM leadership has some documents giving clear and detailed information about NCP plans with forces, mostly commanded by militia and renegade groups. The documents, he said, included some information showing correspondences between the Khartoum’s intelligence services and militia leaders.

One such example, he said, are the documents showing signatures bearing the names of logistics and intelligent officers and the militia leaders, confirming receipt of military assistance, in the form of weapons, which were dispatched from Khartoum to camps allegedly occupied by militia groups along the north-south border.

However, the senior member of the party, which has officially controlled affairs of the south since its independence vote in October 2005, was quick to say his party remains committed to pursuing negotiations in all the fields with the NCP.

“In spite of all these activities, the SPLM is keen and remains committed to peacefully discuss ways forward on how to resolve differences on the remaining outstanding issues”, said Amum.

(ST)