S. Sudan civil society groups petition UN Security Council over Abyei crisis

By Julius N. Uma

May 10, 2011 (JUBA) – A coalition of civil society activists, joined by students in various schools within Juba – South Sudan’s regional capital – on Tuesday took to the streets and peacefully marched in support and solidarity with the people of the disputed border territory of Abyei.

The demonstrators, numbering in the hundreds, openly condemned the escalating violence in oil-producing region, agitating for the timely conduct of the long-awaited referendum in the region as per the provisions outlined within the Abyei protocol in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Demonstrators paralysed businesses and public transport along Buluk road leading to the ministries of the regional government. In July South Sudan will become independent after a referendum – also agreed to in the CPA – witnessed a massive vote for separation.

Abyei was supposed to hold a simultaneous plebiscite to decide whether the region would join the South or remain as part to North, to which it was transferred by Britain in 1905.

Since the South Sudan referendum violence in Abyei has killed tens of people. One of the placards held by students on Tuesday read: “Abyei referendum must take place without delay. We want peace.”

At the core of the impromptu demonstration was a memo, signed representative of 30 different organizations, which was directly addressed to Haile Menkerios, the special representative of the UN Secretary General in Sudan.

“We, the coalition of southern Sudan civil society organizations constituted as different interest group, who experienced the suffering, destruction, loss of lives and tragedies associated with war do hereby agreed that, as per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the government of Sudan is reneging to implement the Abyei Protocol and therefore would like to remind the guarantors of the CPA, the international community and specifically the United Nations Security Council that genocide is being committed by NCP[National Congress Party] militias in Abyei,” the memo says.

The NCP, Sudan’s ruling party, have insisted that the Misseriya – a nomadic Arab who enter the region to graze their cattle – should be allowed to vote in the referendum. The SPLM, the former rebels who govern South Sudan, have insisted that only the Dinka Ngok tribe and residents of Abyei should be accorded voting rights.

Early this month Menkerios met South Sudan president, Salva Kiir and the two, according to a statement from UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), extensively discussed the security situation in Abyei.

“The two parties have committed that the Kadugli and Abyei Agreements shall be carried out with the facilitation and participation of the UN. UNMIS will also support the containment and temporary security measures while a solution is being sought. We have agreed here to immediately move on it,” reads the UNMIS statement, issued after the meeting.

But in the petition seen by Sudan Tribune, the coalition members urged the international community to exert pressure and ensure that the Khartoum regime accepts and abides by its international obligations to fully implement all the CPA provisions, citing the Abyei protocol and all provision addressed within the July 2008 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling.

“The referendum for the people of Abyei must be concluded before 9th July, 2011, and are not marred by violence and human rights violations that could lead to a humanitarian emergency,” further agitates the memo.

However, in addition to the referendum issue, the activists called for efforts towards ongoing post-referendum negotiations between the south and northern parties, particularly regarding border demarcation, oil sharing, citizenship, national debts and water, to be expedited.

Two other separate memos were also written to South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir and James Wanni Igga, the speaker of South Sudan Legislative Assembly. In both letters, the demonstrators lauded the duo for their able leadership, urging them not to give up in their struggles to fulfill the mandates to the southern population.

The event comes just days after development ministers from Norway, United Kingdom and the United States advocated a peaceful resolution of the Abyei conflict between the key parties involved during a meeting they held with the South Sudan leader in Juba.

They included Erik Solheim, Norway’s minister for environment and international development, Andrew Mitchell, the UK secretary of state for international development and Rajiv Shah, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator.

In a joint statement delivered at a press conference in Juba, the three ministers urged both the north and south ruling parties to ensure that outstanding issues like the Abyei referendum conduct and the demarcation of the north-south borders are resolved peacefully resolved before the July declaration of South Sudan’s independence.

Over the years, the US, Norway and the UK, better known as the Troika countries, have been credited for their longstanding humanitarian and development partnership with Sudan. Notably, however, they played key roles in brokering the 2005 peace deal, which ended over two decades of war between north and south.

(ST)