Dinka Ngok vote on their future, AU dubs ballot illegal
(Additional writing by Deng Machol Monyrach in Juba.)
The long-postponed vote on whether they should belong to Sudan or South Sudan entered its third and final day on Tuesday, October 29, without endorsement from Sudan nor South Sudan.
United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) soldiers in Abyei, October 27.
The vote was organised by the Ngok Dinka but is opposed by the region’s other tribe, the Misseriya, a nomadic group who have close ties with Sudan and reside in the region for around half of every year.
The African Union (AU) said it strongly” condemns the community’s decision to hold a unilateral referendum, calling it illegal and saying it could inflame tensions in the disputed region, which remains a major bone of contention between Sudan and South Sudan.
The AU chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said she was closely monitoring the situation in the region, which offers good pasture land and limited oil reserves, calling the unilateral act unacceptable” and irresponsible”.
The Abyei region was meant to hold a referendum alongside southern Sudan in 2011, a move which was shelved due to ongoing violence.
A voter casts his ballot in Abyei, October 27. Sudan’s president Al-Bashir vowed to work with his South Sudanese counterpart to settle the future of the volatile area. I will continue with my brother Salva Kiir […] to reach a solution for Abyei that can bring satisfaction to the local communities there,” he said on Monday, without referring directly to the voting underway among members of Abyei’s Ngok Dinka, who have close ties to South Sudan.
South Sudan has also rejected any unilateral action in Abyei.
The AU added its voice to the chorus of international observers warning that the vote could heighten tensions in the conflictive and heavily armed border region. This unilateral act […] can only heighten tension on the ground and further complicate the search for a mutually acceptable solution,” the AU chairperson warned.
Last year, the AU mediation team backed South Sudan’s position, proposing to hold a referendum in Abyei this October in a bid to break the deadlock between the North and South, who fought a bitter civil war for more than two decades until 2005.
A voter in Abyei holds the South Sudan national flag in his hand, October 27.
This plan, however, was rejected by Sudan, which argued that it ignored that the eligibility of the Misseriya and that a public administration and institutions must be established first before any vote can take place.
At a summit held last week in Juba, the long-standing foes improved their rapport but failed to strike a concrete deal on Abyei. They did, however, draw up plans to establish Abyei’s administration council and police force, and reaffirmed that a two percent share of Abyei’s oil revenues, including arrears, will be paid to the Abyei administration.
Recently the officials in Abyei said the unilateral vote would not affect the nomads Misseriya from accessing the areas. The result of the vote is due on October 31.
