Abyei civil society demands immediate stoppage of Misseriya settlement
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By Ngor Arol Garang
March 15, 2011 (ABYEI) - Civil society organisations from the oil
producing contested region of Abyei said on Monday they were “deeply
concerned" by the continued settlement of the members of the Misseriya
tribe in territorial boundary awarded to the Nine Dinka Ngok Chiefdom,
by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2009, and that demanded
immediate stoppage of the activities.
JPEG - 41.7 kb
Leaders of the Misseriya tribe at peace talks with Dinka Ngok, January
13, 2011 (Getty)
The group, predominantly represented by churches; community based
organisations; youth and women groups; as well as political activists
and students from different academic backgrounds in the area,
expressed concerns over the "continued settlement" by members of the
Misseriya tribe in areas identified by the Permanent Court of
Arbitration as belonging to the Nine Dinka Ngok, as "illegitimate" and
an obstacle to peaceful coexistence between.
The petition entitled "No to Occupation" is addressed to the US
President with copies to Security Council of the United Nations and
the Sudanese Presidency, also calls for the unconditional withdrawal
of the Sudan Armed Forces allegedly present in the territory belonging
to the nine Dinka Ngok chiefdoms.
"This is exactly the work of the National Congress Party [NCP]. No one
else is doing this. They are deliberately settling Misseriya in areas
where oil is being drilled so that they can use it as justification to
claim they belong to the Misseriya, by making settlements for them",
said Deng Abiem, member of the State Legislative Assembly in Warrap,
in a telephone interview with Sudan Tribune from Kuajok on Monday.
"They have tried to legitimise this time and again through funding
settlements of the Misseriya from the national treasury", he said,
before condemning clashes which occurred in the area in late February
and the first week of March, 2011 and described it as "despicable,
immoral and inhuman."
"While the area is still reeling from the repeated gruesome
attacks, in which a lot of lives were lost as several other sustained
injuries and are still in their beds in health centres seeking medical
care, the government in Khartoum continues to arm and finance
settlement programs encouraging members of the Misseriya to building
more houses in areas awarded to the Nine Dinka Ngok chiefdoms by the
Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague", he continued.
Miyen Alor Kuol, a senior member of the SPLM in the area said on
Sunday during a condolence call to the grieving family, "They burn and
we build. They kill and we never run away to abandon our ancestral
lands, even if the situation forces some of our vulnerable groups in
the area to flee. We have never gone far. We have always remained in
the same territorial boundary".
Khartoum backed armed militiamen are accused by official Abyei
administration and the SPLM leadership of participating in the recent
clashes in which locals and officials from the area say 153 were
killed and several others from both sides of the conflict were
reported injured.
The repeated armed confrontations often blamed on members of the rival
Misseriya tribe and the continued construction has scuppered
initiatives for a peaceful settlement.
Talks over Abyei remains stalled as the SPLM on Sunday announced it
was suspending negotiations on the remaining outstanding issues in the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement and post referendum arrangements with
the NCP, claiming it has sufficient evidence that Khartoum wants to
topple the Juba based government.
"We had to suspend talks with the National Congress Party," said Pagan
Amum, Secretary General of the SPLM in a televised statement on South
Sudan Television on Sunday.
"We have more than enough evidence showing all plans and activities of
the National Congress Party to destabilise peace in the south", he
said.
Amum, who holds an additional position as minister of peace and CPA
implementation in the regional administration, said the SPLM
leadership has some documents giving clear and detailed information
about NCP plans with forces, mostly commanded by militia and renegade
groups. The documents, he said, included some information showing
correspondences between the Khartoum’s intelligence services and
militia leaders.
One such example, he said, are the documents showing signatures
bearing the names of logistics and intelligent officers and the
militia leaders, confirming receipt of military assistance, in the
form of weapons, which were dispatched from Khartoum to camps
allegedly occupied by militia groups along the north-south border.
However, the senior member of the party, which has officially
controlled affairs of the south since its independence vote in October
2005, was quick to say his party remains committed to pursuing
negotiations in all the fields with the NCP.
"In spite of all these activities, the SPLM is keen and remains
committed to peacefully discuss ways forward on how to resolve
differences on the remaining outstanding issues", said Amum.
(ST)
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