South Sudan seeks international intervention over Abyei to “revert temptations”
November 3, 2012 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation says it is “high time” the international community “takes bold decision to ensure that recommendations of the African Union High Implementation Panel“ with regards to the dispute over the future of the contested Abyei region.
The decision further says the porposal of the mediation will be endorsed by the the Council and referred to the UN Sceurity Council if the two sides fail to strike a deal. Khartoum had previously rejected the proposal of 21 September.
Minister Nhial Deng Nhial, told Sudan Tribune on Friday that, “we have earnestly explored all opportunities required to ensure compliance with the provisions of African Union Peace and Security Council which it issued on April 24th through its communiqué which the Security Council of United Nations endorsed through its Resolution 2046.”
According to Nhilal, postponing the implementation of the proposal on the final status of Abyei “will have dire consequences”.
He noted that the Abyei Protocol enshrines the commitment of both parties to conduct a referendum on Abyei.
Abyei lies on the border between South Sudan and its northern neighbour. Since South Sudan seceded in 2011 various issues have remained unresolved. Despite the success of the most recent round of talks held in Addis Ababa in September, Juba and Khartoum have failed to agree upon the future of the Abyei region.
Problematic in the conducting on a referendum in which the citizens of the Abyie region can make decisions about the future of their region is who is included on the register. The Misseriya are a numerous ethnic group which spend part of the year in the area otherwise predominantly occupied by the Ngok Dinak. Their inclusion in a referendum could be decisive as they are traditionally aligned with Khartoum.
Nhial also downplayed media reports in which Sudanese foreign affairs minister, Ali Ahmed Karti, was quoted as claiming that Sudan had foiled attempts to transfer the issue of Abyei to the Security Council of the United Nations without seeking a negotiated settlement.
“There is nothing which we in the Republic of South Sudan have ever tried to do without giving dialogue a chance. We have never shown reluctance to continue dialogue with Sudan on any issue in any situation even when chances of coming together are slim. So we have never decided to unilaterally seek international intervention even in this case of Abyei and future of the contested and areas which are hard to see much value in further discussions with Khartoum,” explained Nhial.
He cited the failure of the two sides to reach a consensus after the mediators gave them a long time to engage on the issue at the highest levels. “Indeed the issue of Abyei and for the best part of the negotiations period was exclusively assigned to Presidents Salva Kiir and Omer El Bashir to handle before and after independence of South Sudan but all endeavours failed to bear any fruit. So there is nowhere the South Sudan has ever tried to push for international intervene without seeking dialogue”, he argued
He noted that Khartoum is pushing for either the partitioning of Abyei or the inclusion of the Misseriya in the referendum.
Pagan Amum, a lead negotiator representing South Sudan at the talks also refuted claims that his country had wanted to transfer the case of Abyei and other remaining outstanding issues which the two sides are having difficulties in reaching settlements on.
“We have been taking bold decisions to make compromises on some of our positions, even when people of South Sudan show dissatisfaction; this is because our strategic objective is to bring peace and stability between the two states”, Amum told an audience at a briefing attended mainly by civil right activists on Friday.
He pointed out that Khartoum’s Abyei partition proposal would not only amount to a violation of the terms of the Comprehensive Peace and Agreement (CPA), which ended the Sudanese civil war in 2005 and set South Sudan on the path toward secession. He noted that the move would deny the Ngok their ancestral right to their homeland.
Amum, who is also the secretary general of the country’s governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) expressed skepticism about the African Union Peace and Security Council’s suggestion that Jyab and Khartoum continue negotiating until a settlement is found.
“We are committed to negotiating final settlement but I do not think there will be much to expect if the other continues to seek the proposal of dividing the area as the best alternative. This has never worked before, even when direct discussions between the two Presidents were seen as the opportunities,” said Amum.
(ST)