Abyei’s future status in South Sudan
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By Deng Vanang
June 28, 2013 — This article is in reply to the question posed by one
of those who read my June 15th, 2013 opinion piece titled: On Abyei
enough is enough. I wished to address the reader’s concern much
earlier but my little bit busy schedule at the time I read his/her
responsive concern couldn’t allow me to do so. Now that I have got
some ample time I would like to answer his/her shilling concern no
matter how unsatisfactory to him/her it shall sound. In the process of
answering I beg the questioner to bear with me as I take him/her
through somehow delicate historical trajectory that snakes around the
story. The reader though appreciated me for the elaborate way I
tackled the subject matter, s/he remained in the dark on what Abyei
will be, a state or a county like Pibor, if it joins Republic of South
Sudan by which ever means. S/he told me I fell short of telling
him/her and the rest of what status Abyei shall be if it is
incorporated into South Sudan. For him/her s/ he loathed Abyei
becoming a state of its own. Should that happen, s/he said his/her
home county of Pibor should as well be made a state. This fear is not
found in this particular reader alone, several brothers and sisters in
different parts of our beloved country share the same with him/her.
The skepticism is traced to the distribution of power and resources
that accompanies the creation of geo-political units not only in South
Sudan but the world over as well. In South Sudan different from other
countries, sadly the process of creating such units is shrouded in
serious flaws. Instead of bringing services closer to the people, the
process is adversely used to reward the few while denying more
deserving multitude. This is the case when all states and counties
irrespective of land mass and population sizes are treated equally and
not equitably in sharing out both national and states’ annual budgets
among them. That is the main concern bothering our brother/sister in
particular and the rest in general.
However, this narrative cannot proceed without the privilege of
sharing with you the fact that I actually wrote this article in the
dead of the night of Tuesday 25th June 2013 at Africa Regional
Conference on an Inter-party dialogue and democratic consolidation in
Naivasha Simba Lodge where the late hero Dr.John Garang heatedly
negotiated Comprehensive Peace Agreement with Ali Osman Taha. And in a
spacious suit not far away from the one that housed John Garang
throughout the entire negotiations period, now turned into a
mini-museum of sorts. This flash back, has undoubtedly given me the
accurate view of the details behind Abyei’s protocol, being the
subject currently under discussion.
Answer
To answer the concerned questioner and the rest of his/her colleagues
in the interactive world of social media, during the negotiation of
Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Naivasha eight years ago, the area
became as it is still today the focus of dispute between the north and
the south. Each side claims it as its own. To defuse the tension that
almost brought the negotiations to a standstill; the mediators
suggested the area should be administered right in the centre, the
presidency until its fate is decided through peaceful referendum by
native nine Ngok Dinka fiefdoms. The Presidency at the time was joint
one under President Omar Hassan Albashir and First Vice President
Salva Kiir Mayardit when our late hero Dr. John Garang unfortunately
and suddenly passed on. Abyei Currently continues to enjoy the same
special status but under separate presidencies of both Sudan and South
Sudan until it goes in one way or another. That is to be an integral
part of South Kordofan State if it goes north or Warap State if it
turns out to become part of the new Republic of South Sudan.
Therefore, it is not the largeness of land mass and neither the
population size as some people may think that makes Abyei a special
case with distinct geo-political status. It is rather the conflict
over its ownership as each rival side claims the disputed territory
for itself being the reason behind such a status. For Abyei occupies
an area of 4,000 square kilometers with an estimated population of far
less than three hundred thousand souls. All the two features fit Abyei
in the category of a county, especially in demographic term of
population.
Provisional vacuum
However, what cannot be ruled out is the likely hood of it being
declared a state if it joins South Sudan as some people in the area
band around such an idea. They can even be at liberty to exploit the
absence of legal provision that could determine what geographical area
and population size the state supposes to have.
The exploitation of this provisional vacuum exactly came to light
during 2008 SPLM’s Second National Convention when Abyei was awarded
roughly over thirty delegates several times above the number of each
county’s delegates and slightly below that of state’s delegates. That
alludes to the fear currently gripping those who suspect Abyei shall
be rammed down the throat of South Sudanese as the 11th State of South
Sudan despite its tiny geographical area and population size. With
callous aim of getting robust resources it doesn’t deserve from the
national pool.
But that should not be the issue people could get bogged down on with
unnecessary waste of valuable time and energy debating about it. It is
not a necessity at the moment whether it shall be a county or a state
for it is fool hardy to quarrel over who should get what chunk of meat
from the game that is still alive and kicking in the wild and yet to
be killed. And it would do us more justice to avoid any divisive
question about Abyei that aims to get us backward rather than forward
as some people might need to pose it as an excuse to make the area
look like the preserve of Ngok Dinka with sole responsibility to
liberate it. This negative concept is coupled with the blame game as
to how Abyei switched side to the north in 1905 in the first place and
at times causes some people to say that is none of their business to
liberate the land that is now threatening the return of two hostile
neighbors to war. Without asking themselves, if people of Abyei like
Pieng Deng, Deng Alor and only to mention a few from Abyei
participated in liberation of South Sudan in which we are today, why
shouldn’t the concerned individuals mind liberating Abyei? Their
inverted thinking is not isolated anyway. It is the same thing which
causes a relative unease between the ex-allies in original SPLM/A at
presence. Divided into two separate entities by South Sudan
independence in 2011, the SPLM north faults SPLM South for
deliberately using it in pursuit of liberation of South Sudan the
former had nothing to do with.
Additionally, skeptics ought to know that any piece of land that lies
within the national borders doesn’t give its local inhabitants the
prerogative to either annex it to another country or liberate it if
invaded by a neighbor. It is the duty of national army to either
defend or liberate it if invaded by a hostile neighbor. What may be
needed from the natives of the area is the emotional urge that can
serve as morale booster for the national armed forces in the course of
liberating the area from the invaders. Conversely, resources in any
integral part of South Sudan like it is the case in several unitary
states globally are well defined within the national revenue bracket
except the allocated percentage as may be determined by the country’s
national constitution.
Hence, in a nutshell Abyei like any other disputed border areas such
as Heglig, Kupranath, etc. with people and immense mineral wealth
should be wrested from the control of anybody that claims them as his.
Their resources no matter how minute they may be shouldn’t be traded
off as small benefits that spoil what are considered to be bigger
gains extracted from oil fields currently in operation. 1999 inaugural
opening of Bentiu oil fields to the benefit of the rival north and to
our advantage should not in any way repeat itself. Not to allow
continuing under our nose and watch is the issue of Kapoeta gold
presently being mined by foreigners in cohorts with local cartels and
neither the same to be allowed to take roots in West and Central
Equatoria States where timbers are illegally logged by outsiders next
door. This is the responsibility of any leadership with constitutional
obligation to dutifully safeguard public interests and not least that
of future generation which shouldn’t be mortgaged for the comfort of
the present few. Overlooking such matters of posterity is the
reference point at which the governing party SPLM scores poorly for it
desperately pursues short term interests that are more beneficial to
it directly. One of these short term interests is the way it is being
high on its toes to cut deal on oil flow with Sudan government that
has snatched many parts of our land with people and resources.
Desperate to refill bank accounts that have run drier due to oil shut
down and subsequent biting austerity, SPLM’s big men are ever busy to
ensure Tharjath and Polouch’s oil flows north again while leaving to
their fate people and resources trapped in disputed border territories
already over run by Sudan.
Deng Vanang is a Journalist and member of SPLM-DC’s National Executive
Council. He can be reached at:[email protected]. The views expressed
above are his and should not be attributed to SPLM-DC.
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