Relative calm in Sudan-South Sudan border region of Abyei

The security situation in the Abyei area, claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, has calmed down after violent clashes in end January. Three people were killed and six others abducted in the past two weeks.

Bulabek Deng Kuol, sultan of the Ngok Dinka in Abyei, told Dabanga yesterday that the security situation in the area is relatively calm these days.

“Last week however, a group of gunmen coming from Ajak Koj abducted three people. They beat two others with sharp objects. The two victims were taken to Abyei Hospital where they later succumbed to the wounds.”

The sultan added that “a group of bandits abducted a father and two of his daughters two weeks ago”.

He explained that these events are all related to a land dispute between the Ngok Dinka and Tog communities.

In another incident, a Misseriya herder was killed by gunmen in eastern Abyei on Thursday. “The attack was related to the theft of cows by Nuer tribesmen and has nothing to do with the Abyei community,” Kuol said.

In mid-November last year, more than 30 people died in tribal fighting in Abyei. Deng Bul, security advisor for the region, attributed the cause of the violence to a dispute over borderland between Abyei and Tog governorate in Warrap state, where the attacking group claims to be dependent on land south of the Kiir River.  

In end January, more than 50 people were killed in tribal clashes in Abyei town, including two members of the UN Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA).

According to UNISFA, “armed youth from rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group have been battling over the location of an administrative boundary in the oil-rich region”. Sultan Kuol explained at the time that “a group of unruly men” wanted to cause conflict between displaced members of the South Sudanese Nuer tribe sheltering in Abyei town.

Earlier this month, renewed fighting was reported from Abyei town and surroundings. Merchants said they fear the potential impact on the trade of goods from South Sudan in Kordofan and Darfur. Closure of the Abyei Road, a crucial commercial route linking the region to the rest of Sudan, may also disrupt trade between Darfur, Kordofan, and El Gezira.

* Since the secession of South Sudan from Sudan in 2011, both countries claim the border area of Abyei. The oil-rich region is inhabited primarily by members of the South Sudanese Dinka Ngok clan. It is also the seasonal home of the Sudanese Arab Misseriya herder tribe. The Abyei status referendum, in which the residents of the region would decide either to remain part of Sudan or become part of South Sudan, was planned to be held simultaneously to the South Sudanese independence referendum in January 2011, but was postponed indefinitely because of disagreements over the process.