Sudan’s NCP says “no compromise” over Abyei
April 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A senior figure in North Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has asserted that his party will not offer any compromise over the issue of Abyei whether to the U.S government or South Sudan with which it contests the oil-producing region.
“There will be no compromise over Abyei in any case,” the hard-line NCP figure added, as quoted by Sudan’s official news agency (SUNA) during his speech at Kadugli Stadium.
North and South Sudan are at loggerheads over the oil-producing region of Abyei whose status was supposed to be decided through a referendum last January but the vote remains stalled due to disagreements on whether members of the north-associated cattle-herding tribe of Misseriya should be allowed to vote alongside the south-linked tribe of Dinka Ngok.
South Sudan, which voted earlier this year to secede from the north in a referendum granted under the 2005’s peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north, insists that Dink Ngok tribe is the only group allowed to vote, whereas the north demands that Misseriya be allowed to vote.
Sudan President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir last week said that no plebiscite would take place in Abyei without the participation of the Misseriya.
“There is no way that the Dinka Ngok [are treated] as first-class citizens and Misseriya as second class,” Bashir said.
Abyei witnessed deadly clashes in the run-up to and since south Sudan referendum was conducted in January, highlighting tension exacerbated by the onset of the migration season during which members of Misseriya traverse the borders into Abyei to graze their cattle.
The SPLM and NCP agreed to resolve the issue before the official declaration of south Sudan independence in July. The African Union High-Level Panel on Sudan (AUHIP) headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki is mediating between the NCP and SPLM on this issue along with other post-referendum arrangements.
Gubernatorial and state assembly elections in South Kordofan state were also delayed from a year ago due to disagreements between the NCP and the SPLM over the results of a population census and the ensuing delimitation of geographical constituencies. The elections are set to begin in May after a new census increased the state’s population.
However, analysts fear the polls could spark violence at any sign of fraud and observers warned of low-key elections due to shortcomings in the voter-registration process.
Two candidates in the gubernatorial elections announced their withdrawal from the race to support the SPLM’s candidate Abdul Aziz Al-Hilu against the NCP’s incumbent candidate Ahmad Haroun who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged role in atrocities committed in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.
Nafie said that his party was looking forward to “a fair competition” with the SPLM in south Kordofan. He urged South Sudan government to stay away from the polls and instead focus on assisting their “hungry” citizens.
The presidential assistant hailed the incumbent governor describing him as a blessing and “up to it [the task]”. He also lauded the people who attended the rally saying it demonstrated the support the NCP has in the region while rejecting tribal agenda, slogans and empty handed leaderships.
In another issue Nafie warned the SPLM to “mind its business in the south” and refrain from interfering in the north’s affairs. He slammed the ex-rebel movement and opposition parties saying they are conspiring to break up the country describing them as agents of foreign embassies.
“All brains meet for conspiracy in Khartoum day and night to split Sudan,” he said. Nafie criticized claims on marginalization and the ‘New Sudan’ programme put forward by the SPLM.
He mocked the SPLM Northern sector for its pledge to unite Sudan while “the movement is tearing itself apart”.
(ST)