Juba, Sudan
The mood on the second day of voting in South
Sudan’s independence referendum remained
upbeat, and lines at polling stations around the
capital, Juba, were again long, but the threat of
further violence in the disputed north-south fault-
line of Abyei cast a shadow over the optimism
felt around the south on Sunday.
The people of Abyei were meant to cast their
own votes of self-determination starting Sunday,
a referendum they were promised when the
north and south ended more than two decades
of war in 2005. Instead, negotiations between the
Khartoum-based National Congress Party (NCP)
and the south’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) are stalled. But one thing is
looking almost certain: Abyei won ’t determine its
future status – either as part of northern or
southern Sudan – through the ballot box.
Although officials on the ground in Abyei
reported that the situation today was calm,
clashes over the past three days could herald a
backslide into local conflict in the flashpoint region
that Sudan watchers fear could destroy the hard
work over the past six years to preserve a fragile
peace.
Sudan 101: Could the war over South Sudan
spark up again?
“Everyone is concerned about Abyei,” President
Jimmy Carter told the Associated Press in an
interview on Sunday in Juba, noting that he had
discussed the need for Khartoum and Juba to
negotiate a settlement on Abyei with the African
Union ’s President Thabo Mbeki and US special
envoy Scott Gration.
The ethnic Ngok Dinka residents of Abyei and the
Arabic-speaking Misseriya herders who migrate
seasonally through this fertile borderland have
been at odds with each other for decades, with
the enmity being at least partially driven by
political interests at the north-south level.
“Abyei is being denied a referendum on self-
determination in direct violation of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement. We have yet
to see what ‘deal’ may be done between the
SPLM-NCP on the region, and how this might be
sold to local inhabitants, ” said Claire McEvoy of
the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, a think
tank. “To date, there is no agreement on either
the future of the area, or its borders.”
When President Omar al-Bashir visited the
Southern Sudanese capital last Tuesday, he
issued supportive statements toward the south
and expressed his desire for peaceful north-south
relations regardless of the result of the southern
referendum.
In Khartoum on Friday, he had harsher words for
Abyei, warning of war if the Ngok Dinka
attempted to unilaterally hold their own vote. "We
will not accept Abyei to be part of the south,"
Bashir told Al Jazeera television over the weekend.
"If any party takes independent action over Abyei,
that would be the beginning of a conflict."
In this tense climate were a series of attacks
which began on Friday.
Reports of these attacks vary widely. Misseriya
leaders say innocent herders were attacked by
Abyei area police who favor the Ngok Dinka,
while southern officials say the Misseriya were
armed with heavy artillery and supported by
Khartoum-backed militias, and that the attacks
were planned.
In a statement on Sunday, President Obama said
that “violence in the Abyei region should cease,”
and noted that “while a successful vote will be
cause for celebration, an enormous amount of
work remains to ensure the people of Sudan can
live with security and dignity. ”
Back in Juba, a Southern Sudanese domestic
observer group, SUDEMOP, reported that the first
day of polling went smoothly and that the
conduct of referendum officials, including polling
staff and security officers, had improved since
last April ’s general elections.
“I wanted the referendum because I was tired,”
said Susan Riak, dressed in a colorful print dress
and wearing a cross around her neck. “We lost
our parents and we suffered. We want
separation, ” she said as she exited a polling
station in a primary school in Juba.
Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0110/South-Sudan-upbeat-amid-vote-but-threat-of-border-violence-casts-shadow
The mood on the second day of voting in South
Sudan’s independence referendum remained
upbeat, and lines at polling stations around the
capital, Juba, were again long, but the threat of
further violence in the disputed north-south fault-
line of Abyei cast a shadow over the optimism
felt around the south on Sunday.
The people of Abyei were meant to cast their
own votes of self-determination starting Sunday,
a referendum they were promised when the
north and south ended more than two decades
of war in 2005. Instead, negotiations between the
Khartoum-based National Congress Party (NCP)
and the south’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM) are stalled. But one thing is
looking almost certain: Abyei won ’t determine its
future status – either as part of northern or
southern Sudan – through the ballot box.
Although officials on the ground in Abyei
reported that the situation today was calm,
clashes over the past three days could herald a
backslide into local conflict in the flashpoint region
that Sudan watchers fear could destroy the hard
work over the past six years to preserve a fragile
peace.
Sudan 101: Could the war over South Sudan
spark up again?
“Everyone is concerned about Abyei,” President
Jimmy Carter told the Associated Press in an
interview on Sunday in Juba, noting that he had
discussed the need for Khartoum and Juba to
negotiate a settlement on Abyei with the African
Union ’s President Thabo Mbeki and US special
envoy Scott Gration.
The ethnic Ngok Dinka residents of Abyei and the
Arabic-speaking Misseriya herders who migrate
seasonally through this fertile borderland have
been at odds with each other for decades, with
the enmity being at least partially driven by
political interests at the north-south level.
“Abyei is being denied a referendum on self-
determination in direct violation of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement. We have yet
to see what ‘deal’ may be done between the
SPLM-NCP on the region, and how this might be
sold to local inhabitants, ” said Claire McEvoy of
the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, a think
tank. “To date, there is no agreement on either
the future of the area, or its borders.”
When President Omar al-Bashir visited the
Southern Sudanese capital last Tuesday, he
issued supportive statements toward the south
and expressed his desire for peaceful north-south
relations regardless of the result of the southern
referendum.
In Khartoum on Friday, he had harsher words for
Abyei, warning of war if the Ngok Dinka
attempted to unilaterally hold their own vote. "We
will not accept Abyei to be part of the south,"
Bashir told Al Jazeera television over the weekend.
"If any party takes independent action over Abyei,
that would be the beginning of a conflict."
In this tense climate were a series of attacks
which began on Friday.
Reports of these attacks vary widely. Misseriya
leaders say innocent herders were attacked by
Abyei area police who favor the Ngok Dinka,
while southern officials say the Misseriya were
armed with heavy artillery and supported by
Khartoum-backed militias, and that the attacks
were planned.
In a statement on Sunday, President Obama said
that “violence in the Abyei region should cease,”
and noted that “while a successful vote will be
cause for celebration, an enormous amount of
work remains to ensure the people of Sudan can
live with security and dignity. ”
Back in Juba, a Southern Sudanese domestic
observer group, SUDEMOP, reported that the first
day of polling went smoothly and that the
conduct of referendum officials, including polling
staff and security officers, had improved since
last April ’s general elections.
“I wanted the referendum because I was tired,”
said Susan Riak, dressed in a colorful print dress
and wearing a cross around her neck. “We lost
our parents and we suffered. We want
separation, ” she said as she exited a polling
station in a primary school in Juba.
Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2011/0110/South-Sudan-upbeat-amid-vote-but-threat-of-border-violence-casts-shadow
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