Following the removal of Abyei resolutions from the 8th
Governors' Forum resolutions, the administration and residents of the disputed
Abyei Administrative Area have expressed their dissatisfaction with the South
Sudanese government.
Abyei resolutions initially included a call for the
recognition of the 2013 Dinka Ngok community referendum to settle Abyei's final
status.
On November 27, 2024, Deng Arop Mading, the Deputy Chief
Administrator of Abyei, appealed to the South Sudan government to officially
recognize the referendum, where 99 percent of the Ngok Dinka voted to join
South Sudan.
The forum discussed Abyei's security and the provision of
basic services, as well as urging the national government to prioritize a final
settlement of Abyei's status.
However, when the forum's resolutions were announced at the
closure of the event, Leben Nelson, Head of the 8th Governors' Forum
Secretariat, publicly disclosed that the recommendations concerning Abyei's
final status, including the recognition of the 2013 referendum, had been
withdrawn and deferred to a higher level for further consideration.
"Please, all the recommendations on Abyei have been
moved to the higher level, so I am not going to read them, so we move to 50,
which is 59 in what has been distributed to you," Nelson said.
In response to the withdrawal of Abyei resolutions, Deng
Arop Mading, Deputy Chief Administrator of the Abyei Special Administrative
Area, expressed his surprise and disappointment.
Mading told reporters that the Governor's Forum had already
recommended endorsing the Abyei referendum. However, he was caught off guard by
the unexpected withdrawal of these resolutions.
"The forum has done its best; the forum has accepted
the recommendation. The forum as well put forward a resolution on endorsing the
Abyei community referendum," Mading stated.
Mading said he is now awaiting clarification on who the
"higher level" referred to in the withdrawal might be and is seeking
guidance on the next steps following the removal of the recommendations.
"When the resolutions were being read out, they were in
the resolution document, but unfortunately from the speaker who read out the
resolutions, he indicated that this thing has been moved to the higher level,”
he said.
"This higher level is what we do not understand, and as
the people of Abyei, we will be anxious to know this high level, besides this
one, to tell us what the way forward is, so that the people of Abyei do not
remain in a situation where they don't understand where they belong."
Edmund Yakani, civil society activist and executive director
of the Community Empowerment of Progress Organization (CEPO), also expressed
his disappointment over the withdrawal of Abyei resolutions.
"I am so disappointed as a South Sudanese with the
withdrawal of the resolutions to do with the Abyei Administrative area,"
Yakani said.
"I think the government of South Sudan has demonstrated
a sense of fear and a sense of not taking care of Abyei as one of the
administrative areas in our country, and if we are going to face an election,
the message is now clear that the election will not consider our brothers and
sisters from Abyei."
Yakani also demanded an explanation from the government for
the removal of the Abyei resolution.
"It is very depressing; it is very disturbing. It is
something that we are not happy with because we feel our brothers and sisters
from Abyei deserve to have a national identity in South Sudan, and we have been
battling for quite a number of years."
He continued, acknowledging the international dimensions of
the Abyei issue,
"Yes, I understand it is an international global issue,
an outstanding issue between South Sudan and Sudan, but adopting a resolution
on the situation of Abyei is not a crime, and it is not something bad,” Yakani
underscored.
Abyei, one of South Sudan's three designated administrative
areas, remains a contentious region due to its disputed status between Sudan
and South Sudan.
Since the two countries split in 2011, there has been a
dispute over the area. Despite South Sudan's claim over Abyei, competing
historical and political narratives between both nations complicate the
situation.
Due to the ongoing conflict in Sudan, some South Sudanese
officials joined the people of Abyei in urging the government of South Sudan to
take action to assert its control over Abyei.
They argue that recognizing the results of the 2013 Ngok
Dinka referendum, which overwhelmingly supported joining South Sudan, could
provide a resolution and help alleviate the suffering of the Abyei people.
Vice President Taban Deng Gai underscored the urgency for
South Sudan to take action, given the ongoing conflict in Sudan's neighboring
Darfur region and its direct impact on the disputed Abyei area.
He noted that the instability in Khartoum has left the
people of Abyei in a state of suffering with no effective authority to meet
their needs.
“The vacuum is now very clear, and South Sudanese must know
this. The people of Ngok Dinka are South Sudanese; we cannot allow them to
suffer the way they are suffering. Right now, there is no government in
Khartoum, and they are left that way,” Deng said.
“Can the government of Darfur have time to listen and check
the suffering of the people of Abyei? It’s not a priority to them. These people
of Abyei are suffering; they have no school, and their airport of Athony is
blocked by the Sudan not to be operational.”
However, the president's and first vice president's offices
disapproved of Deng's remarks, deeming them undiplomatic.
Dr. Riek Machar, South Sudan’s first vice president,
responded by stating that it is not within South Sudan's jurisdiction to
declare the lack of government in Sudan.
“What Vice President Taban said, that ‘There is no
government in Sudan,’ is not true, and that’s not the position of the
government of South Sudan. There is legitimate government in Sudan. In the last
UN General Assembly, President Burhan participated, and it’s not us to say
there is no government in Sudan,” Riek stated.
“That is not the position of the government of South Sudan,
and it doesn’t represent in any way the position and the views of the
government led by H.E. Salva Kiir Mayar. The government of South Sudan does
respect the territorial integrity and legitimacy of the government of the
Republic of Sudan,” echoed Amb. Chol Ajongo, Minister of Presidential Affairs.
Meanwhile, Justice Deng Biong Mijak, a member of the
National Committee for the Settlement of Abyei's Final Status, echoed Taban
Deng Gai in his push for endorsement of the 2013 Ngok Dinka Referendum.
“Currently, there is no government in Sudan. Let us be very
frank! There is no government in Sudan; there are factions fighting in Sudan.
That is why I have been telling some people that our government should balance
our foreign policy. Let us not appear to be leaning toward one of the
factions,” stated Mijak.
He emphasized the need for South Sudan to take a clear stand
on the Abyei issue. He called on the national legislature to voice its opinion
about the 2013 Ngok Dinka referendum.
"My appeal today is that the national legislature
should express its opinion about the referendum of the Ngok Dinka in October
2013. You cannot wait for Sudan. Some people say that we will be disturbing
Sudan. Are we advocates of Sudan? Are we here as advocates for Sudan? Let Sudan
be the one to say it. But you are a country with sovereignty; how can you speak
this way as a sovereign country?" Mijak stated.
His remarks underscore the importance of South Sudan
asserting its position and not allowing external factors to delay decisions on
its own citizens' rights.
Justice Mijak has voiced strong concerns about South Sudan’s
silence on the Abyei issue, arguing that it sends the wrong message to the
people of Abyei.
“We are sending the wrong signal to the people of Abyei when
we remain silent. What are we saying to the ordinary citizens of Abyei? We are
simply saying we do not support them,” Mijak said.
Drawing from his experience and understanding of South
Sudan’s struggle for liberation, he emphasized that the majority of South
Sudanese stand with Abyei.
“I know the majority of South Sudanese stand with Abyei. It
is only a few who are confusing the whole issue,” argued Mijak.
Abyei is the ancestral land of the Ngok Dinka, though it has
historically seen seasonal migrations of herders from the northern Arab
Misseriya tribe, who bring their cattle to graze and trade during the dry
season.
In 1972, following Sudan’s first civil war, the Addis Ababa
Agreement granted Abyei the right to hold a referendum to decide whether to
remain part of northern Sudan or join the newly formed southern region.
However, Sudan did not uphold the agreement, as President Jaafar Nimeiri
refused to allow the referendum.
It entered another war in 1983, which ended in 2005 with the
signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This agreement included the
Abyei Protocol, which designated the region under special administrative
status.
The agreement also stipulated a future referendum for Abyei
residents to decide whether the area would join Sudan or South Sudan.
In October 2013, the Ngok Dinka held a referendum where 99
percent voted for Abyei to become part of South Sudan.
However, neither Sudan nor South Sudan recognized the
results of the vote. In 2015, South Sudan established the Abyei Special
Administrative Area as one of its three administrative areas to fill the
administrative vacuum left by Sudan’s unilateral dissolution of the joint
administration.
