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 Re: اشتباكات عنيفة في مدينة أبيي .. (Re: JOK BIONG)
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The south on the brink
May 26th 2008 | ABYEI
From The Economist print edition
Clashes in the middle of Sudan threaten the entire north-south peace accord
AFP
NOBODY seems to know how or why the fighting in Abyei, on Sudan's north-south fault line, began. But everyone knows that if it gets out of hand, the entire peace accord that has kept an edgy calm between north and south for the past three years could dissolve in a bloodbath.
In mid-May, rumours started to spread that a local militiaman in the pay of the northern government in Khartoum had been arrested by the police run by the main southern movement. A government soldier from the north was shot. Within hours, the town of Abyei was reverberating with the clatter of machinegun fire and the crashing of mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. Tens of thousands of the town's residents fled into the bush. UN helicopters were sent to evacuate terrified aid workers under heavy fire. At least 50 people were killed in several days of fighting.
The mood in Abyei, an oil-rich area straddling Sudan's north-south border, had been darkening for months. The ruling parties of north and south—the National Congress Party (NCP), headquartered in Khartoum, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), with its nerve-centre in Juba—each claim the area as theirs. There had been sporadic incidents between proxies. But the clashes that erupted on May 14th were the first sustained bout of armed conflict between the northern-based national army and former guerrillas from the south.
Abyei is at the nub of the problems that have strained relations between north and south since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)was signed in 2005, ending two decades of war in Africa's largest country. But an argument still festers over sharing oil revenue and demarcating the border between north and south. Trust between the two sides is patently lacking.
A particular row over drawing the border through the Abyei area was a big reason why, last year, the SPLM suspended its participation in various aspects of the peace deal. It complained that the government in the north was refusing to accept the findings of an international boundary commission, which put Abyei in the south. Though the SPLM later rejoined the Sudanese unity government based in Khartoum, it unilaterally sent one of its top men, Edward Lino, to run the Abyei area, which had had no proper administration for three years. But the northerners rejected him and sent several hundred heavily armed soldiers into Abyei town. “We don't want to fight,” says Mr Lino. “But we're not going to surrender just like that. They can't just come and take over our land and people.”
The mood in Abyei has long been twitchy because of historic animosity between the Misseriya nomads, some of whom are armed by northerners in the government in Khartoum, and the southern Ngok Dinka, who look to the SPLM for protection. Since time immemorial they have clashed over land and water. Such issues can usually be resolved locally but the groups have become pawns in a bigger game. If fighting between them gets bloodier, the north-south partnership in Khartoum could collapse.
In any event, the northerners, who are mainly Arabs, have been dragging their feet over the accord of 2005, not just over Abyei, but also over other border disputes. They have been slow to withdraw troops from the south, as agreed. Some observers think they want to provoke a crisis, so that a general election due next year cannot be held. The northerners are even more loth to contemplate a referendum, due in 2011, that is part of the agreement; the southerners are entitled to opt for secession and full independence. If that happened, the south would draw the benefits of Sudan's 500,000 barrels of oil a day, much of it pumped out of Abyei. Hence the tension over the border. The Abyei area alone is said to have produced oil worth $1.8 billion since the accord was signed. The south says it has seen none of the cash at all.
The SPLM's ability to negotiate and implement a border settlement is weakened by its own disunity. Some of its top men believe in a federal Sudan, with the south getting wide autonomy. Others believe passionately that the Muslim-dominated, Arab north will never co-operate with the Christian and animist south, and that independence is the only way.
Such differences are sharpened by fierce rivalries between the southern tribes. The Dinka, among them both the SPLM's leader, Salva Kiir, and his predecessor, the late John Garang, have long held the upper hand. Several of their top people, known as “the Garang boys”, are amenable, as was Mr Garang, to the idea of a federal Sudan with an autonomous south. Mr Kiir leans towards independence. The autonomy-versus-independence debate bubbles on, sometimes angrily.
The SPLM is holding its first party convention since 1994, when it was meant to heal divisions between Mr Garang and a group led by Riek Machar, now the south's vice-president, whose Nuer people are the Dinka's chief rivals. “Most of us want separation [ie, independence] but we are worried about the problems between the tribes,” says Hassan Kuku, a trader in Juba market. “We don't want more war over this.” Moreover, corruption has worsened, making everyone edgier about the future.
Meanwhile, a fear of lawlessness has returned. Though the southern guerrillas are supposed to have disarmed under the agreement, hundreds of civilians in the past week darted into their huts to grab their hidden AK-47s to join the present fray. The accord provided for joint units of northerners and southerners to act as a neutral force; but they never materialised.
The UN Mission in Sudan, known as UNMIS, is feeble. Its diplomats call for calm, but their ability to do good on the ground is impeded by the government in Khartoum, which never wanted the mission there in the first place and limits its ability even to move around freely. The 10,000-strong mission, including some 7,000 soldiers and police, has a weak mandate; its mainly Zambian units did little more than protect a nearby UN base when the hostilities in Abyei broke out.
Since then, some 50,000 civilians have fled into the bush, leaving Abyei town virtually deserted, a stark reminder that some 2m were killed and 4m displaced during the long conflict that ended in 2005. Hectic talks between politicians of north and south are going on in Khartoum.
Yet the continuing horrors of Darfur, in western Sudan, attract more of the world's attention. Many foreign government agencies and charities have switched their focus to Darfur. For the UN, tackling southern Sudan still seems a challenge too far.
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 Re: اشتباكات عنيفة في مدينة أبيي .. (Re: JOK BIONG)
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Sorry Mother Abyei
Sorry mother Abyei,
If we have neglected you,
Sorry mother Abyei,
If we have deserted you,
Sorry mother Abyei,
If we are unable to protect you.
Oh mother Abyei,
We will restore to you,
Your honour,
All nine children of yours,
Will come back to you,
Abior, Mareng and Bongo,
Will come back to you,
Anyel, Man-nyuar and Achaak,
Will come back to you,
Deel, Achueng and Allay,
Will lay
A new foundation for you.
Akol Miyen Kuol
Nairobi, Kenya
11 November, 2000.
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 Re: اشتباكات عنيفة في مدينة أبيي .. (Re: JOK BIONG)
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Google News Alert for: Abyei
The Presidency to approve Sunday document on agreement on Abyei
ReliefWeb (press release) - Geneva,Switzerland
Khartoum, June 7(SUNA) - The Sudan News Agency learned that the Presidency will approve Sunday document on agreement on Abyei issue. ...
See all stories on this topic
North, south Sudanese draw up "road map" on Abyei
Reuters South Africa - Johannesburg,South Africa
Abyei has been a main point of contention for Khartoum and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) since the former foes signed a 2005 peace ...
See all stories on this topic
Sudan: Security Council Team And President Hold Talks in Khartoum
AllAfrica.com - Washington,USA
A visiting Security Council delegation and Sudanese President Omar al Bashir discussed the country's north-south peace process, the situations in Abyei and ...
See all stories on this topic
Abyei’s solution nears, LRA attacks SPLA – Sudan’s FVP Kiir
Sudan Tribune - Sudan
People displaced by fighting in Abyei in southern Sudan wait for assistance and aid supplies in the village of Agok May 21, 2008. ...
See all stories on this topic
Agreement over Abyei could end violence
Middle East Times - Cairo,Egypt
... between the Sudanese government and the former southern rebels that would resolve the violent dispute over the oil-rich area around Abyei, Sudan. ...
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Sudan reaches agreement with former S rebels over Abyei
Xinhua - China
She added that President Al Bashir also welcomed a greater role for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), including the region around Abyei. ...
See all stories on this topic
Abyei crisis committee meets with South Sudan president Kiir in Juba
New Sudan Vision - Edmonton,Alberta,Canada
June 6, 2008 (Juba NSV) - The six-member Abyei crisis committee from SPLM and NCP arrived in South Sudan capital earlier on Friday to consult with First ...
See all stories on this topic
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بدر الدين اسحاق احمد
JOK BIONG
Kostawi
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست