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Kiir accuses Sudan of killing Abyei chief to sabotage referendum

May 9, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Thursday openly accused the government of neigbouring Sudan of killing the paramount chief of the disputed border region of Abyei, Kuol Deng Kuol.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
South Sudan President Salva Kiir (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Kuol, the chief of the nine Dinka Ngok chiefdoms, was travelling in a United Nations convoy that had visited an area in the north of the contested oil-producing territory on 5 May when armed members of the Misseriya tribe – the Arab nomads who also lay claim to the area – attacked the convoy.

Two Ethiopian peacekeepers, deployed as part of the UN Interim Force for Abyei (UNISFA), was also killed in the attack, which South Sudan has referred to the world body’s Security Council.

A visibly emotional Kiir, said that he will hold his Sudanese counterpart, President Omer Al-Bashir, responsible for Kuol’s death if he fails to arrest and try the attackers in an independent competent court of law.

“It is the government of Sudan which killed the chief. It is not the Misseriya we know – the ones that move with their cattle south of Abyei every year looking for water and pasture lands”, Kiir said.

“I hold the government of Sudan, especially president Bashir himself responsible if he fails to produce criminals and ensure that they are tried by the independent and competent court of law” he added.

The President asked why the Misseriya would choose to attack the chief now when they had ample opportunity in the past.

“Chief Kuol has been in the area all this time and the Misseriya did not kill him. Why killed him this time if it is indeed the Misseriya?”, Kiir asked the thousands of mourners who had gathered at the residence of South Sudan’s Inspector General of Police, Pieng Deng Kuol, to pay their final respects to the late chief.

An Abyei referendum initially scheduled for January 2011 was due to decide the fate of the area but disagreements between the ruling parties of Sudan and South Sudan over who was eligible to participate has led to a stalemate.

The African Union tried to break the deadlock last year, proposing that the plebiscite go ahead in October 2013, but only for those permanently residing in the area – effectively excluding the Misseriya nomads, leaving the Southern-aligned Dinka Ngok free to vote in favour of joining South Sudan.

Khartoum has rejected the plan, but AU mediators stress the exclusion of the Misseriya nomads is consistent with the decision of the International Court of Arbitration in July 2009, which defined Abyei’s territory as the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms.

President Kiir said the murder of the Abyei chief was a clear ploy to prevent the Dinka Ngok voting for the area to be moved back into what is now the independent Republic of South Sudan.

“I know this is a clear political scheme to sabotage the conduct of referendum because you are now left with only five months go into the referendum. And they know that you will vote to decide where you want to go which they are afraid because they know very well you have already indicated determination to return south where the area was transferred”, Kiir explained.

The president, however, called for calm amongst Abyei’s youth. He warned against those calling for any retaliation as it would hamper the government’s long term goal of having Abyei officially transferred into South Sudan.

“Our strategic objective is [the] referendum. This is what we want to hold in the area in a peaceful atmosphere so that the people could go and vote”, he said.

Several speakers, including vice president Riek Machar unequivocally condemned the killing of Kuol – often referred to as Kuol Adol – who served in the post for over two years.

Bulabek Deng Kuol, who has been appointed as Kuol’s successor, has vowed to work towards accomplishing the right of self-determination for the Dinka Ngok of Abyei.

(ST)

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