UN mission in Abyei relocates over 120 Sudanese staff to Kadugli
May 14,2013 (JUBA)- The United Nations Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has relocated over 120 Sudanese national staff working in various mission support departments to Kadugli, the capital South Kordofan state, well-placed sources within the mission told Sudan Tribune Tuesday.
Abyei youth and other Dinka Ngok leaders recently wrote to the Ethiopian dominated UN force in Abyei, asking the force commander to get rid of and stop hiring Sudanese nationals in the area, as they considered them to be “security agents” of the Khartoum government.
“The force commander and the leadership of the mission following consultations with the headquarters in New York decided to relocate Sudanese nationals to Kadugli. This decision was taken last week and they were taken immediately. They will be there until this situation is brought under control. The initial plan was for two weeks but current situation does not show any sign of changes”, a source told Sudan Tribune.
The source who requested anonymity since he is not authorised to talk to the media, said the UN forces in the area are doing their best to control the situation.
“I am telling the Ethiopian soldiers are the best. I have worked for the United Nations in various missions. I was in Sierra Leone. I went to Iraq, Lebanon, Congo, Chad, East Timor and Mozambique. In all these places, I never saw such a level of readiness of the forces to response to any security challenges like this. The Ethiopian troops are the best. They are handling this situation well, even though their efforts are widely seen in the area like a drop in the ocean”, he stressed.
NEW CHIEF CALLS FOR CALM
Meanwhile, Bulabek Deng Kuol, the new paramount chief of the Nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms, called for calm in the area and asked youth to remain vigilant and focused on the conduct of a referendum to decide whether the area should be transferred into South Sudan.
Bulabek’s predecessor, Kuol Deng Kuol, was killed on May 5, 2013, while travelling in a UNISFA convoy, which was was ambushed by armed members of the Misseriya tribe as they returned to Abyei town after a visit further north.
The death of the late chief, who was often known Kuol Adol, threatens the prospects of the seemingly improving north-south relations, which has for long been tense since South Sudan seceded from the north almost two years ago.
“There is no problem in the town only that our people are still mourning the death of our paramount chief Kuol Adol. Some of our leaders who came from Juba have returned and some of them have remained behind. They are calling on everyone to calm down,” said Bulabek.
Let peace prevail, no one is to take revenge. Let the UN peacekeeping forces do their work. We are preaching peace, he added.
(ST)