Al-Bashir says Abyei dispute could lead to war with South Sudan
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July 11, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – President Omer Al-Bashir of Sudan has
reiterated claims to Abyei, warning that any attempt by the new state
in South Sudan to impose a unilateral reality in the hotly-contested
region could potentially lead to war with the North.
JPEG - 10.7 kb
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir (L) and Sudan’s President Omar
Hassan al-Bashir attend the Independence Day ceremony in South Sudan’s
capital Juba July 9, 2011 (REUTERS PICTURES)
Speaking to the BBC’s Hardtalk interview program broadcast on 11 July,
Al-Bashir said his government had divided Sudan for the sake of peace,
and that they have no intention of going back to war unless compelled
to do so.
However, he warned that any attempt by South Sudan to impose a
unilateral reality in the oil-producing region of Abyei may prompt the
North to pick up arms against the new state, citing the example of
May’s takeover of Abyei by North Sudan army in retaliation for an
attack allegedly carried out by Southern troops.
South Sudan, which also claims ownership Abyei, gained full
independence from the North on 9 July, having voted almost unanimously
to secede in a referendum held at the start of this year. The vote was
stipulated under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which
established peace between the North and South after half a century of
intermittent civil wars.
Abyei has been a major point of contention in the implementation of
the CPA. The region’s status was supposed to be determined via a
plebiscite in January 2011. However, the vote stalled as North and
South Sudan failed to agree on the criteria for eligibility to vote.
North Sudan insists that members of the Arab, cattle-herding tribe of
the Missiriya, who traverse the borders into Abyei for a few months a
year to graze their cattle, should be allowed to vote, while the South
contends that only members of the Dinka Ngok community should vote.
Al-Bashir told his interviewer Zainab Al-Badawi that Abyei remains an
“integral part” of North Sudan despite an agreement his government
signed with South Sudan last month to fully demilitarise the region
and deploy Ethiopian peacekeepers to monitor security in the area.
The Sudanese leader confirmed that the country’s army would redeploy
out of Abyei as soon as the 4,200 Ethiopian peacekeepers arrive in the
region.
According to Al-Bashir, peacekeepers of the UN Mission in Sudan
(UNMIS), which was established to monitor the CPA-mandated ceasefire
in Abyei, completely failed to assert security in the region.
He said that the government wants UNMIS peacekeepers to leave the
country, expressing confidence that their Ethiopian substitutes are
more capable and trusted by both North and South Sudan.
Under the Addis Ababa agreement on Abyei, which was facilitated by the
African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP), North
and South Sudan agreed to establish a joint committee to manage Abyei
after Al-Bashir dissolved the region’s administration following the
army takeover.
South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, pledged during his speech in the
independence ceremony to continue talks with North Sudan to resolve
outstanding issues. North Sudan, which declared recognition of the
south’s independence, pledged to do likewise.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Saturday urged North and
South Sudan to return quickly to the negotiation table in order to
thrash out post-independence arrangements, including the status of
Abyei.
(ST)
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