Will Messeiria follow Dinka Ngok footsteps and take the law in their o

2013-08-30 00:39:00
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Dr Abdul-Karim G. Elgoni Dr Abdul-Karim G. Elgoni



Dr Abdul-Karim G. Elgoni

[email protected]





Dinka Ngok are taking the law in their own hands as narrated by my brother Edward Lino, the co-chair of AJOC, who said that the referendum will go on without any Messeiria whether Khartoum Government liked it or not. Sometime back Dr Luka Biong said that President Bashir is not welcome to visit Juba in South Sudan if he will reiterate his statement that the Messeiria tribe has voting rights in Abyei referendum. They are promoting a win-lose solution embedded in an ethnic cleansing war mentality.



This is in contrast to foreigners like John Kerry USA foreign Secretary who said this week that "Abyei should be able to have a referendum with the appropriate Messeiria - that is the Messeiria who actually live in Abyei and have residence there year round, not the migrant Messeiria." The African Union also said that only those Dinka Ngok and Messeiria residing permanently in the area will be allowed to vote. But now we hear that the Government of South Sudan has given Dinka Ngok resident in Juba an open leave to go to Abyei to register and vote in the referendum.



I will certainly object if the Government of Sudan will give Messeiria residing in Khartoum leave to go and register for the referendum. It is not fair. Only Dinka Ngok and Messeiria residing in Abyei area for their livelihood all year round or during the dry season are the ones eligible for voting. Not those resident in Juba or Khartoum.



Dinka Ngok and the Messeiria coexisted peacefully for more than two hundred years. But now the loser will make the life of the winner unbearable as there will be no peace. The Ethiopians cannot stay there forever. So this win-lose scenario is a recipe for instability and suffering.



Messeiria will definitely take the law in their own hands as Dinka Ngok are doing now keeping them out of the equation and there would death and suffering. So why does should we allow the war mentality to continue at a time when stability should prevail so that all may enjoy the wealth of oil? Who instigates this war mentality and who is the beneficiary? Will it end when the oil runs out?



The media always emphasizes the "oil rich Abyei region" while neither the Messeiria nor Dinka Ngok have seen any of the oil revenues on their land or in their pockets. All they have seen is Sudan and South Sudan plain clothes and uniformed forces and thousands of UN army personnel roaming the area and reduced grazing land that is taken up by the oil fields while no development happens in the area. They also notice that their sons in the SPLA/M and NCP political offices are getting richer and richer.



Dinka Ngok and Messeiria need a developmental win-win solution that is agreed upon locally by both tribes and supported politically by national and international powers. They need a solution that makes inroads into poverty.



Let us

ü support a developmental win-win solution that can stop the hostilities,

ü support a solution that brings in developmental agencies, not peacekeepers that keep no peace,

ü promote coexistence and establish projects that create jobs and keep the youth busy generating positive ideas for people to talk about.



Regardless of whether Abyei stays north, goes south or becomes a separate entity, it should be a developed area where people coexist in peace.