S. Sudan confirms Abyei’s exclusion in bilateral talks with Sudan
November 1, 2017 (JUBA) – South Sudanese authorities have confirmed that President Salva Kiir visit to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum will focus on bilateral cooperation issue between the two countries.
The South Sudanese minister for the presidency, Mayiik Ayii Deng told reporters on Wednesday Kiir left Juba for a two-day official visit to Sudan for bilateral talks on issues which the two sides have already identified to form the basis of discussion between the two leaders.
“The president is going to discuss three main issues with his brother Omar al-Bashir. One is the resumption of oil production in former Unity state. Second, we are going to discuss the reopening of the border for trade, and the third issue is the security,” said Deng.
Abyei issue is not on the agenda for discussion in Khartoum.
“The issue of Abyei is not part of the agenda. The issues to be discussed during this president of his Excellency have been identified and agreed by the two countries. The main issues will be borders, trade and resumption of oil production in former Unity”, he said.
It, however, remains unclear why the issue of the disputed region was excluded.
Leaders from Misseriya, one of the tribes in Abyei, recently called on the Sudanese government to include the issue of Abyei in the agenda of bilateral talks with the South Sudanese president.
In statements to the semi-official, SMC, Mohamed Omer al-Ansari, a Misseriya leading member pointed to the need to form Abyei joint administration institutions in line with the agreement of 20 June 2011.
He called for inclusion of the issue of the disputed area in the agenda of the meetings between President Omer al-Bashir and Kiir.
“We insist on resolving the issue of Abyei and to launch the formation of a joint government in the (dispute) region that will implement what has been agreed in the deal,” partly read the statement.
Jaffur Daou, the head of external relations at the Dinka Council – a tribal body supporting to maintain Abyei in the Sudan, also called for discussions on the issue, stressing that Juba had delayed the process pretending that it would be settled during the presidential summit.
The Juba-backed Dinka-Ngok rejects the formation of the joint administrative and security institutions saying it is time to run a referendum on the self-determination without the participation of the Misseriya nomads.
But Khartoum has insisted that priority should be given to the establishment of administrative and legislative councils and the joint police force before to settle the difference over who can take part in the vote on the vote of the disputed area.
The Abyei Area is an area of 10,546 km2 in Sudan accorded “special administrative status” by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the second Sudanese civil war. Under the terms of the Abyei Protocol, Abyei was declared, on an interim basis, to be simultaneously part of South Kurdufan and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states.
(ST)