SPLM rejects deployment of additional northern police in Abyei
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By Ngor Arol Garang
March 20, 2011 (AGOK) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM)
announced on Sunday its rejection of the deployment of additional
northern police in the oil producing region of Abyei, describing the
move as “an open invasion” of the area at the center of tension
between the North and South.
JPEG - 26.8 kb
A UNMIS peacekeeper patrol on APC in Abyei, Sothern Sudan, Friday,
March 11, 2011 (AP)
The statement comes in response to reports that the federal ministry
of interior dispatched 1,500 policemen to beef up security in the area
along the oil areas at the extreme north of Abyei.
Deployed in territorial areas awarded to the Nine Dinka Ngok chiefdom
by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in July 22, 2009,
the additional forces are in Lengera village north of Abyei named in
Arabic as Goli. Others are in Kej also named Difra in Arabic and at
Bongo.
The new troops that are allegedly well-equipped entered the area on
Thursday which happens to be the day the presidency meeting took place
in Khartoum to discuss the way forward on Abyei and post-referendum
arrangements.
Deng Arop Kuol, the Abyei chief Administrator, said this week that the
deployment of the additional troops was not agreed by the two parties
and that their presence is illegal and tantamount to an "open
invasion" of the area.
He accused the National Congress Party (NCP) of intending to
forcefully take control of areas where oil is drilled by sending
troops to the region.
"The recent move by the ministry of interior in Khartoum to deploy
1,500 policemen, in the area without the knowledge and approval of the
SPLM and the Abyei administration shows clear intention of the NCP to
take control of the areas where oil is drilled".
"This is unacceptable and the citizens of the Abyei will not tolerate
it," said chief administrator, before adding that the interest of the
NCP in the area "is nothing other than pursuit for oil and not the
demands of the Misseriya to access water and pastures".
"The National Congress Party is not genuine in its claim to include
Misseriya in the referendum vote. They are only using Misseriya as
cover up for oil. This is what they are after. They do not care about
demands and future of the Misseriya as far as I know. Their interest
is only oil but they do not want to say it directly so that SPLM can
at least discuss with them when their position is clear", said Kuol.
He further said giving oil to the NCP does not solve demand of the
Misseriya to access water and pasture in the south.
"Does giving oil to the national congress party which appears to be
the issue solve the whole thing? Does it solve demand of Misseriya to
access water and pasture in the south, asked Kuol explaining Misseriya
needs water and pasture in the south Abyei".
"The National Congress Party is interested in cutting areas from where
oil is drilled to the north as alternative to solve territorial
dispute but does solve their demand to access water and pastures found
in the south", asked Kuol.
But the spokesman of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), Colonel Khalid
Sa’ad Al-Sawarmi denied that the military sent any troops to Abyei
neither in the past or present. This was also echoed by the police
spokesperson General Imam Ahmed Tuhami who said that SPLM accusations
are "totally unfounded".
Under the 2005 deal signed the by SPLM and the NCP, the citizens of
Abyei like in the South Sudan, were allowed to vote at a referendum
supposed to have concurrently taken place with referendum for the
people of South which took place on 9th of January 2011.
The vote would have allowed citizens of Abyei to decide whether they
should remain in Kordofan in central Sudan where they were transferred
or return to Bahr el Ghazal in South Sudan from where they were
detached in 1905.
Citizens of Abyei, however, did not vote as parties to the CPA did not
reach a compromise on voter eligibility and composition of the
referendum.
A Misseriya leading figure by the name of Mohammad Omar Ansari
described the situation as catastrophic accusing the Ngok Dinka of
denying his tribe’s access to sources of water by force and mobilizing
fighters in their path.
Ansari claimed that the SPLA had already killed 11 children from the
Misseriya and abducted 7 as well as burning 11 vehicles within the
last few days. He stressed that the Arab tribe will defend its wealth
and threatened to burn all of if the SPLA started the war.
The SPLM spokesperson in Abyei on the other hand accused the United
Nations Mission of pursuing the NCP’s by seeking other paths to
resolve the issue outside the protocols agreed upon between the North
and South. He urged former South African president Thabo Mbeki who
leads an African Union panel to show his position regarding the NCP
plot.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is scheduled to hold a
session on Abyei on Monday attended by NCP and SPLM officials. The
Sudanese foreign ministry spokesperson Khalid Moussa said that the
meeting was requested by NGO’s working on the Abyei issue.
Moussa said that Sudan’s envoy at the UN held talks with P-5 members
at the council to brief them on the realities on the ground.
(ST)
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