SPLM adamant there will be no concessions over Abyei
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By Ngor Arol Garang
June 5, 2011 (JUBA) - South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM), restated its position on Saturday that the
contested oil-producing region of Abyei will not remain part of north
Sudan.
A SPLM statement to the media on June 4 said Abyei “will not and will
never be part of the North whether by force or dialogue.” The northern
army (SAF) took Abyei by force in May 21 following two attacks
reportedly by southern armed groups on UN-accompanied SAF convoys in
the region.
The SPLM, the former rebel movement which became the ruling political
party of the semi autonomous region of South Sudan, after the signing
of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, was joined by the
US and UN Security Council among others in condeming the military
invention.
Abyei’s occupation by the SAF has raised fears of renewed conflict.
The last north-south civil war lasted over two decades and resulted in
the deaths of an estimated 2 million people.
In Saturday’s statement the SPLM accused the National Congress Party
(NCP) - Sudan’s ruling party and co-signature to the CPA - of
“deliberately” violating terms of what was agreed in the Abyei
protocol of the 2005 peace deal.
“We in the government of south Sudan and in the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement condemn the continuous deliberate violation of
terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by the government in
Khartoum, particularly the National Congress Party.”
“One such example of continuous serious violations of terms of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement is the recent invasion of Abyei by the
Sudanese Armed Forces. We strongly condemn it because it is
unconstitutional and against the Abyei Protocol which is part of the
2005 peace agreement the two parties signed to implement”, reads part
of the statement extended to The Juba Post newspaper.
The statement signed by Barnaba Marial Benjamin Bil, minister of
information and official spokesperson of the government of south
Sudan, argued that the issue of Abyei should already have been
resolved through the self determination vote the region was granted as
part of the CPA and the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration
at The Hague defining Abyei’s borders.
Minister Marial denied having elements of the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army operating in the area as independent forces. The only
SPLA troops were part of Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) drawn from both
the SAF and SAF as per the 2005 peace deal. the statement said. Since
2005, former rebels, the SPLA have been the official army of South
Sudan.
“There are no SPLA forces in Abyei. The government is clear and
without any doubt that there is no presence of the Sudan People’s
Liberation Army in Abyei as stipulated by the Abyei protocol. The SPLA
soldiers in Abyei are component of the Joint Integrated Units mandated
by the Comprehensive Agreement to monitor and protect the agreement.
So, the claim by the government blaming the SPLA is unjustified”, the
statement further said.
Speaking at an Abyei community briefing on Saturday, at Nyakuron
Cultural Center in Juba, James Kok Ruei, a minister of Humanitarian
and Disaster Management of the government of South Sudan said Abyei
will not and will never be part of the north whether regardless of
what Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir says.
“There are some people who think holding on Abyei will have negative
impact on the liberation of South Sudan. This is wrong concept and
people who believe the issue of Abyei will affect independence of
South Sudan are wrong”, says Kok amid applause and ululations saying
Abyei is 100% South Sudan.
Despite Abyei’s vote, to decide whether it would join the South or
remain in the north, being postponed indefinately South Sudan’s
independence referendum went ahead on schedule in January. An
overwhelming 98 percent of Southern Sudanese voted for secession
paving the way for South Sudan to separate from the North on July 9.
Abyei was transfered into Kordofan, on the northern side of the
north-south border, in 1905 by British colonial administrators. It has
remained there ever since and was a key battle ground during the
second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005).
Most residents of Abyei are from the Dinka Ngok tribe an offshoot of
South Sudan’s largest ethnic group - the Dinka. The SPLM wanted the
Dinka Ngok and other residents of Abyei to be the only groups allowed
to vote in the referendum. However, the NCP demanded that the
Misseriya a largely nomadic Arab tribe who enter the fertile region
with their cattle for a few months of the year, to also be accorded
voting rights.
Since Abyei’s plebsicite did not go ahead in January tension has been
rising, culminating in the SAF taking the area by force and refusing
to leave until a solution is found.
Minister Kok told the gathering in Juba on Saturday that he disagrees
with people who believe that the issue of Abyei should be treated
separately as it will will have negative impact on the smooth
independence of South Sudan.
“Let me tell you. Abyei will come to the south whether Bashir likes it
or not. It will come to the south whether by force or talks because
this land is ours. This was I supported its inclusion in the draft
transitional constitution of south”, said minister Kok.
Kok said that what happened in Abyei could happen anywhere in the
South and that the conflict in Abyei should not be viewed as an
isolated conflict from issues between North and South.
The minister is one of the ministerial committee formed by the
president of the government of South Sudan to visit areas to which
internally displaced persons from Abyei fled. The SPLM say that as
many as 80,000 have been displaced by the fighting. The UN have put
the figure at up to 40,000.
Kok was part of a delegation that visited the areas to which people
had been displaced, visiting Mayen Abun and Turalei; Wau, the capital
of Western Bahr el Ghazal; and Kuajok, capital of Warrap.
"The condition of those we met and talked to them were appalling”, he said.
Luka Biong Deng, a former minister in the national government, told
the meeting he would open a case against president Bashir at the
International Criminal Court for the conduct of his forces in Abyei.
Bashir is also the head of the Sudanese army.
Biong, who is a native of Abyei, resigned from the post of cabinet
affairs minister in the government of unity in Khartoum over the
northern army’s occupation of Abyei.
“By all means and costs, Bashir will one day appear before an
international court to answer crimes committed in Abyei. It will take
time but it will happen”, says Deng.
Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the
International Criminal Court in 2009 for war crimes and crimes against
humanity for his government’s counter insurgency campaign in Sudan’s
western region of Darfur. the next year genocide was added to list of
crimes Bashir is accused of committing in Darfur.
Demonstrations were held in variuos towns across South Sudan over the
weekend in solidarity with the people of Abyei.
“There was demonstration here in Juba organized by the government and
people of Central Equatoria State. Similar demonstrations were carried
out in Yambio, Torit and elsewhere in greater Equatoria. This
disapproved previous claims by Khartoum and especially the National
Congress Party that people of South Sudan will not support Abyei”,
said Deng.
Deng Alor Kuol, minister of regional cooperation of the government of
south Sudan, who also comes from Abyei, at the same briefing, assured
the people of Abyei they had the support of the people and government
of South Sudan.
He accused president Bashir of supporting what he called ethnic
cleansing in the area. The SPLM have claimed that nearly 100 people
were killed when the SAF took control of Abyei.
Alor repeated Biong’s threat to file a case against Bashir at an
international court for the actions of the SAF in Abyei. Mass looting
and buring of property followed the SAF take over of Abyei town.
The minister said Khartoum’s National Congress Party was holding onto
Abyei because of its oil and its fertile land. Abyei does still
produce some oil but most fields were drawn outside the region when
the issues was refered to the Permanent Court if Arbitration in The
Hague in 2008.
However, neither side wishes to back down over the increasingly
symbolic fate of Abyei, with the region being compared by some
analysts to other disputed territories such as Kashmir and Jerusalem.
(ST)
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