Juba, Khartoum step up efforts to resolve Abyei

In talks brokered by the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, representatives of the two countries announced a timetable for the redeployment of all forces out of the Abyei area that was to begin on 11 September.

Deng Alor, South Sudanese Minister of Cabinet AffairsOmar Suleiman, a former governor of Southern Kordofan State, and Deng Alor Kuol, South Sudanese Minister of Cabinet Affairs, said the departure of troops is to be completed by the end of the month.

An AU statement released to the media Thursday said the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC) agreed to keep in mind the interests of the local communities, especially as the planting and migration seasons are due to commence soon,” and that the committee would reconvene in Abyei on 15 September.

The deal was struck amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the border states of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, where attacks have killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands of civilians.  

Download the AU statement on the AJOC

Reports of continued aerial bombardment in Southern Kordofan and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Blue Nile State have forced many civilians to flee towards South Sudan.

Britain’s UN Ambassador, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, said the Abyei accord was encouraging but that major concerns remain over unresolved issues between South Sudan and Sudan.

Read also: "Ngok Dinka citizenship falls through cracks of post-split Sudan"             by Hassan Barakya

The government in Khartoum was still presenting obstacles” to the UN mission in Abyei, he said, referring to a serious humanitarian situation in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, to which humanitarian access is severely restricted, if not entirely denied.”

Two months after South Sudan’s independence, tensions between the two nations are high, with each side blaming the other for misdeeds.

Sudan declared a state of emergency in Blue Nile State earlier this month as fighting escalated between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and soldiers loyal to South Sudan. Juba denies aiding those opposed to the Sudanese government.
 
The Abyei Protocol, part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that formally ended Sudan’s civil war, stipulated a referendum for the people of Abyei to determine their future status. It was to supposed to be concurrent with January’s independence vote for Southern Sudan, but it never took place.

Download the Abyei Protocol

In May, President Omar al-Bashir postponed the referendum indefinitely.

Analysts have raised concerns that Abyei could trigger a future war between Sudan and its newly independent neighbour if the issue is not amicably resolved.

Al-Bashir has made war on four fronts: Abyei, Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Darfur,” said Elias Gaaniko, a media analyst. Abyei is an issue that has lasted 50 years with no resolution.”   

He asserted South Sudan is too weak to pressure Khartoum to resolve the Abyei crisis.

Destruction following violence in Abyei, May 2011. UN Photo / Stuart PriceStraddling the border between Sudan and South Sudan, the ethnically divided region of Abyei covers an area of nearly 10,500 square kilometres. Inhabited by nine groups of Ngok Dinka, who have ties to South Sudanese in the Greater Upper Nile area, it is also the perennial home of the ethnic Misseriya tribe, nomadic cattle herders from the north who spend part of the year there. Violence has repeatedly flared over conflicting land claims.

Omar Suleiman, Sudan's representative at the Abyei talks, is a Misseriya; Deng Alor, representing South Sudan, is a Ngok Dinka.

The Abyei Boundary Commission was established in 2004 to re-examine the area, which was transfered from Southern Sudan to the North under colonial rule  in 1905. The commission’s report led to a ruling announced by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague in July 2009.

For more background information check out the Final Award of the PCA Tribunal

The PCA redrew the region's boundaries and reduced its size, placing the Heglig oilfield on the northern side. The decision only addressed the location of Abyei's borders, not land ownership.

On 21 May, about 5,000 SAF troops seized control of large parts of the Abyei area after three days of clashes with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. In response to an alleged ambush by southern soldiers, the SAF’S shelling and aerial bombardment resulted in more than 100 deaths and caused the displacement of 20,000 people.
 
At that time, President al-Bashir dismissed the chief administrator of Abyei, a southerner, and appointed Ahmed Hussein al-Imam, a northerner, in his place.