By Paul Jeffrey
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, yet the border issues still have not been resolved.
Central to that dispute is Abyei, a border region between the two countries. Under a 2005 peace plan, it was supposed to have a referendum in 2011 to decide whether it would become part of the North or the South.
Yet the vote never happened, in part because the government in Khartoum insisted that the nomadic Misseriya, who spend part of each year grazing their animals in Abyei, be included. The Dinka Ngok, who compose the vast majority of Abyei residents, insisted that only permanent residents could vote. The debate ended when the north attacked in the spring of 2011.
The African Union has proposed another referendum for Abyei in October, but the Sudanese government has rejected the plan.
A recent increase in cattle raids by the Misseriya suggest things might be heating up yet again, although government officials in the two countries signed an agreement March 8 to withdraw their respective militaries from the border area.
The Sudanese government has a less-than-sterling reputation when it comes to keeping promises, however, and a March 15 report from the Satellite Sentinel Project, founded by U.S. actor George Clooney, documented a buildup of Sudanese military tanks and other heavy equipment in nearby Heglig, which the intergovernmental Permanent Court of Arbitration took out of Abyei in 2009.
Father Biong Kuol, parish priest in the disputed Abyei region, said he is frustrated by the world’s apparent lack of interest.
“The international community has been too flexible with the government in Khartoum. They respond to what’s happened in Libya and Syria, but no one responds to the crimes committed here in Abyei,” he said.
Some 4,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops from Ethiopia are controlling Abyei, and Father Kuol said they provide some critical services such as drinking water in some areas where the northern troops destroyed all the wells. Yet the priest says he cannot figure out what some of the U.N. officials in the region are doing.
“The international community has been too silent, perhaps because Abyei has become a business for many of them, including the U.N. If there is no conflict anywhere, then where are they going to get jobs?” he said. “We should review their mandate. How can they watch people being tortured and yet don’t do anything? What’s the role of the U.N.? They are living the good life. If they came and lived the life of the people, who are forced to sleep on the ground with nothing, then things would change,” he said. – CNS