The national minister of Information told the governments of Abyei Administrative Area and Warrap State to make good use of the 7th Governor’s Forum to address their issues amicably.
At the forum, the Chief of Abyei, Chol Deng Alak, claimed that continued insecurity in the area was caused by armed youth from Twic County.
“Abyei area is challenged by the continuous attacks from the so-called Sudan oil police in Kec (Difra), armed attacks from Twic armed youth and incursion rebels inside Abyei box,” Chol told the forum.
In response, a general who did not mention his name alleged that the chief of Abyei was misinformed and had always been against the people of South Sudan.
As a result, Michael Makuei told them that the forum is not about battle, but rather a platform to discuss issues and finding solutions to the problems in an amicably way.
“My reaction to my colleagues from Abyei and Warrap is that we did not come here for confrontation, let them forget it; we came here to resolve issues,” Makuei interjected.
On November 19, 2023, several people, including a former county commissioner were killed in a renewed intercommunal fighting between Abyei and Twic youth.
It’s believed that the attack was related to the land ownership dispute. In February 2022, the dispute between the two communities over the ownership of Aneet area led to deadly clashes.
Since then, armed youth from the two communities have been attacking each other.
This occurs despite conduct of several peace dialogues and a recommendation suggesting application of facts based on the 1956 Bahr el Ghazal-South Kordofan border.
So far, the intercommunal conflict has claimed about 200 lives.
The five-day forum concludes on Saturday.
