S. Sudan civil society groups petition UN Security Council over Abyei crisis
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By Julius N. Uma
May 10, 2011 (JUBA) - A coalition of civil society activists, joined
by students in various schools within Juba - South Sudan’s regional
capital - on Tuesday took to the streets and peacefully marched in
support and solidarity with the people of the disputed border
territory of Abyei.
The demonstrators, numbering in the hundreds, openly condemned the
escalating violence in oil-producing region, agitating for the timely
conduct of the long-awaited referendum in the region as per the
provisions outlined within the Abyei protocol in the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Demonstrators paralysed businesses and public transport along Buluk
road leading to the ministries of the regional government. In July
South Sudan will become independent after a referendum – also agreed
to in the CPA – witnessed a massive vote for separation.
Abyei was supposed to hold a simultaneous plebiscite to decide whether
the region would join the South or remain as part to North, to which
it was transferred by Britain in 1905.
Since the South Sudan referendum violence in Abyei has killed tens of
people. One of the placards held by students on Tuesday read: “Abyei
referendum must take place without delay. We want peace.”
At the core of the impromptu demonstration was a memo, signed
representative of 30 different organizations, which was directly
addressed to Haile Menkerios, the special representative of the UN
Secretary General in Sudan.
“We, the coalition of southern Sudan civil society organizations
constituted as different interest group, who experienced the
suffering, destruction, loss of lives and tragedies associated with
war do hereby agreed that, as per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,
the government of Sudan is reneging to implement the Abyei Protocol
and therefore would like to remind the guarantors of the CPA, the
international community and specifically the United Nations Security
Council that genocide is being committed by NCP[National Congress
Party] militias in Abyei,” the memo says.
The NCP, Sudan’s ruling party, have insisted that the Misseriya - a
nomadic Arab who enter the region to graze their cattle – should be
allowed to vote in the referendum. The SPLM, the former rebels who
govern South Sudan, have insisted that only the Dinka Ngok tribe and
residents of Abyei should be accorded voting rights.
Early this month Menkerios met South Sudan president, Salva Kiir and
the two, according to a statement from UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS),
extensively discussed the security situation in Abyei.
“The two parties have committed that the Kadugli and Abyei Agreements
shall be carried out with the facilitation and participation of the
UN. UNMIS will also support the containment and temporary security
measures while a solution is being sought. We have agreed here to
immediately move on it,” reads the UNMIS statement, issued after the
meeting.
But in the petition seen by Sudan Tribune, the coalition members urged
the international community to exert pressure and ensure that the
Khartoum regime accepts and abides by its international obligations to
fully implement all the CPA provisions, citing the Abyei protocol and
all provision addressed within the July 2008 Permanent Court of
Arbitration ruling.
“The referendum for the people of Abyei must be concluded before 9th
July, 2011, and are not marred by violence and human rights violations
that could lead to a humanitarian emergency,” further agitates the
memo.
However, in addition to the referendum issue, the activists called for
efforts towards ongoing post-referendum negotiations between the south
and northern parties, particularly regarding border demarcation, oil
sharing, citizenship, national debts and water, to be expedited.
Two other separate memos were also written to South Sudan’s president,
Salva Kiir and James Wanni Igga, the speaker of South Sudan
Legislative Assembly. In both letters, the demonstrators lauded the
duo for their able leadership, urging them not to give up in their
struggles to fulfill the mandates to the southern population.
The event comes just days after development ministers from Norway,
United Kingdom and the United States advocated a peaceful resolution
of the Abyei conflict between the key parties involved during a
meeting they held with the South Sudan leader in Juba.
They included Erik Solheim, Norway’s minister for environment and
international development, Andrew Mitchell, the UK secretary of state
for international development and Rajiv Shah, the US Agency for
International Development (USAID) administrator.
In a joint statement delivered at a press conference in Juba, the
three ministers urged both the north and south ruling parties to
ensure that outstanding issues like the Abyei referendum conduct and
the demarcation of the north-south borders are resolved peacefully
resolved before the July declaration of South Sudan’s independence.
Over the years, the US, Norway and the UK, better known as the Troika
countries, have been credited for their longstanding humanitarian and
development partnership with Sudan. Notably, however, they played key
roles in brokering the 2005 peace deal, which ended over two decades
of war between north and south.
(ST)
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