New clashes in Sudan’s Abyei region
Source: Business day
CLASHES were reported in the disputed Abyei region of Sudan on Saturday, a day after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir warned that renewed fighting in the disputed region posed a threat to peace after Southern Sudan’s referendum, which got under way yesterday .
Mr al-Bashir warned that one of Abyei’s two main tribes, the Dinka Ngok, may enforce its affiliations with the south and provoke the pro-north Misseriya.
Abyei, considered a flashpoint district, sits on Sudan’s ill-defined north-south border. It is seen as a microcosm of all the conflicts that have split Sudan for decades — ethnic tension, ambiguous boundaries, oil and age-old resentments. Northerners and southerners fought hard over it during decades of civil war and have continued to clash there even after the 2005 peace deal that ended the war and set up the referendum.
It contains rich pastureland, water and, after a recent redrawing of its boundary, one significant oil field — Defra, part of a block run by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, a consortium led by China National Petroleum Corporation.
Deng Alor, a leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement , said yesterday that several people had been killed or wounded, though he said the fighting had died down.
Militias organised by the National Congress Party (from the north) had carried out attacks in Abyei and in Bentiu, another key oil-producing district on the border, on Saturday, he said.
Mr Alor was speaking as voting began yesterday in the south’s referendum on secession from Khartoum.
A vote in Abyei to choose whether it wants unity with the north or south was also part of the 2005 accord and was due to coincide with the independence referendum. But polling there was postponed indefinitely after neither side was able to agree on who should be eligible to participate.
Hamid al-Ansari, a leader of the Misseriya tribe, said there were clashes on Saturday between his men and rival Dinka Ngok fighters. He said fighting had flared initially over access to water for their cattle, and the Dinka has started shooting first. He said the Dinka later returned with reinforcements and heavy fighting ensued.
Dozens were killed and 50000 displaced during clashes in 2008 that threatened to derail the peace process.
A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan said it was investigating the latest violence.
In the absence of a separate Abyei referendum, northern and southern leaders have promised to hammer out another settlement that would be backed by mediation from the African Union and the US. Sapa-AFP
CLASHES were reported in the disputed Abyei region of Sudan on Saturday, a day after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir warned that renewed fighting in the disputed region posed a threat to peace after Southern Sudan’s referendum, which got under way yesterday .
Mr al-Bashir warned that one of Abyei’s two main tribes, the Dinka Ngok, may enforce its affiliations with the south and provoke the pro-north Misseriya.
Abyei, considered a flashpoint district, sits on Sudan’s ill-defined north-south border. It is seen as a microcosm of all the conflicts that have split Sudan for decades — ethnic tension, ambiguous boundaries, oil and age-old resentments. Northerners and southerners fought hard over it during decades of civil war and have continued to clash there even after the 2005 peace deal that ended the war and set up the referendum.
It contains rich pastureland, water and, after a recent redrawing of its boundary, one significant oil field — Defra, part of a block run by the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company, a consortium led by China National Petroleum Corporation.
Deng Alor, a leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement , said yesterday that several people had been killed or wounded, though he said the fighting had died down.
Militias organised by the National Congress Party (from the north) had carried out attacks in Abyei and in Bentiu, another key oil-producing district on the border, on Saturday, he said.
Mr Alor was speaking as voting began yesterday in the south’s referendum on secession from Khartoum.
A vote in Abyei to choose whether it wants unity with the north or south was also part of the 2005 accord and was due to coincide with the independence referendum. But polling there was postponed indefinitely after neither side was able to agree on who should be eligible to participate.
Hamid al-Ansari, a leader of the Misseriya tribe, said there were clashes on Saturday between his men and rival Dinka Ngok fighters. He said fighting had flared initially over access to water for their cattle, and the Dinka has started shooting first. He said the Dinka later returned with reinforcements and heavy fighting ensued.
Dozens were killed and 50000 displaced during clashes in 2008 that threatened to derail the peace process.
A spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan said it was investigating the latest violence.
In the absence of a separate Abyei referendum, northern and southern leaders have promised to hammer out another settlement that would be backed by mediation from the African Union and the US. Sapa-AFP
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