Historic meeting of Abyei’s Ngok Dinka, Misseriya

A rare historic meeting between the Dinka Ngok and Misseriya tribes in Sudan took place in Khartoum on Thursday, to talk about peaceful coexistence.

The meeting is the first of its kind between the tribes, which reside in Abyei. It witnessed “an overwhelming spirit of historic peaceful coexistence between leaders of the tribes”, said the head of the general Dinka Ngok council, Sultan Zakaria Atim.

Atim called in his speech at the headquarters of the council on the parties to unite and repair the social fabric.

The oil-rich Abyei region is contested by Sudan and South Sudan. There is no government or police force. Its status has been unresolved after South Sudan seceded from Sudan: the governments failed to agree on the border division. A United Nations peacekeeping mission, the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), has monitored the situation since 2011. It is entrusted with overseeing demilitarisation and maintaining security.

Abyei was originally due to hold a referendum in 2011. However, insecurity stemming from disagreements on voter eligibility between the resident Dinka Ngok and the nomadic Misseriya groups resulted in postponement.

Now the deputy head of mission of UNISFA, Zeido Kiros hailed the peace reached by Ngok Dinka and Misseriya tribes, and complimented the parties for their use of traditional means in order to resolve their issues.

The UN official urged the two sides on Thursday to be patient until the institutions in Abyei are put in place.

The region experiences a “cautious calm” according to MP Nyan Koj last month. It still suffers, however, from an economic deterioration. Because of the overcrowding by refugees from South Sudan, Koj feared the security situation might explode.

Education deteriorates

Meanwhile people in Abyei complained about the deterioration of basic services, especially education, this week.

Children can only follow classes at eleven schools which have six teachers, leaders in Abyei region told Radio Dabanga. “The government fails to provide services. The issue of who owns the Abyei territory must resolved,” one of them said.