ABYEI: Bashir wants it all

ABYEI: Bashir wants it all

By Roger Winter


November 26, 2009 — Having visited Abyei on numerous occasions over the last fifteen years, it has become a place that I regularly go to see President Bashir and his National Congress Party at their predictable worst. Visually, the destruction of May 2008, when Abyei’s market and most of its homes were burned to the ground by Bashir’s 31st Sudan Armed Forces Brigade, were, of course, the most striking sights. Abyei’s civilians fled south, displaced once again. To top things off, the 31st blew up the facilities of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, the NCP’s ‘partner’ in the mis-named Government of National Unity. This wanton destruction by Khartoum’s forces was followed by both Parties presenting their cases to the Permanent Court of Arbitration(PCA) in the Hague. On July 22 of this year the PCA rendered its findings which both Parties committed to implement, including by properly demarcating the borders.

Ten days ago, for the second time since its destruction, I visited Abyei. It was an amazing yet devastating experience. What was amazing was the ‘new’ Abyei. To a very substantial degree, the recently-displaced population of Abyei has returned and those returnees have been supplemented by many others coming home after many years in exile. In addition, there is construction of new commercial and administration buildings going on such as has not existed in Abyei before, thanks to both private and donor investments, such as those from USAID. And then I saw Abyei’s new, vibrant market, full of people, full of goods, full of smiles and full of hope. Visiting different residential areas the vitality and the determination of the returnees was evident; their actions, words and energy all said to me, “This is our place; we are happy to be home!”.

But the dark storm clouds of Bashir and his NCP, along with the criminals of the 31st Brigade, are not far away. Both Bashir and his NCP have a perfect record insofar as agreements are concerned; they NEVER , EVER keep an agreement they sign. This brings us again to the PCA decision of last July which both the SPLM and the NCP pledged publically to implement. The plan was for an ‘Oversight Committee’ to be formed, which would report to the Presidency and oversee the actual workings of the demarcation team. The team was to consist of an equal number of experts from both sides and to be protected while carrying out its duties by members of a Joint Integrated Unit(JIU). In actuality, the Oversight Committee was never formed, the demarcation ‘leader’ is an NCP cadre who reports directly to Bashir, and the SAF Brigades, including the 31st that itself burned Abyei to the ground, chased away the JIUs assigned to protect the team. The SAF Brigades in the area are made up of men who are not at all objective as they come from the Misseriya community from which Bashir raised many Mujahideen to serve in his Popular Defense Forces. The SPLM members of the demarcation are clearly out-manned, alone and at risk. The process itself has been hi-jacked.

The task of the demarcation team is to lay out Abyei’s boundaries pursuant to the PCA decision. This involves working in the field, on the ground and in the air, to plot out and mark the boundaries with pillars and markers so that there is no question of the border’s location. The plan was to install between 25 and 30 major pillar markers along with smaller markers between pillars. So far, four pillars have been installed, all in southern locations. When visiting other areas for their preliminary work, the team has been threatened with death and bodily harm. The process is now at a standstill. The demarcation task was to have been completed in November.

Bashir has publically made promises to the Misseriya community about Abyei’s future. His promises are all at odds with the Abyei Protocol of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, not to mention the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He obviously couldn’t care less about demarcation. He wants Abyei and he wants it all.

Roger winter is former USAID manager and former US State Department special envoy for Sudan assigned to follow Darfur dossier and implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement