By Tereza Jeremiah Chuei
The Republic of Sudan has rejected the provisions of the proposals submitted by African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) which provides for the transfer of Abyei to be part of South Sudan.
The Republic of Sudan in a statement released to the media objected to some provisions of the proposals submitted by AUHIP as follows, item No 8/2 which provides for the transfer of Abyei to the Republic of South Sudan by executing a Presidential Decree.
This came yesterday, when the Sudan government through its Embassy in Juba issued a statement stating their positon on the Abyei Status.
The Sudan was responding to a statement issued on Tuesday by South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit on the final Status of Abyei.
“I want to assure you that achieving the final status of the Abyei is a top policy priority for the government of South Sudan,” Kiir stated in his statement.
However, in response the government of Sudan demanded from South Sudan a full provision implementation of the bilateral Agreement.
“We demand the Republic of South Sudan to implement the full provision of the bilateral Agreement, including the commitment to form all the joint Mechanisms stipulated in the Agreement, namely the joint administration, the Legislative Council and the police force joint Abyei,” the statement issued by Sudan partly stated.
While on the other hand, Salva Kiir said, “cooperation with Sudan will expand the South Sudanese economy and create opportunities for our people, and it will equally avoid conflicts devastating impacts on both countries”.
Meanwhile, Sudan “refuses the holding of an administrative Referendum on the final status of Abyei without preserving the historical right of the residents of the area, taking into consideration the condition of the residents and the nature of the area, saying it uphold on the implementation of the 2005 Abyei conflict resolution protocol”.
President Kiir in his passive position said “the seemingly non-movement from South Sudan’s government on Abyei’s final status is not purposeful, but rather a response to the challenges arising from the development of the people of Abyei”.
According to the statement, the Republic of Sudan position on Abyei Area Final status is based on three references, and one of them is the 2002 Protocol on the resolution of the Abyei conflict.
Secondly, the Agreement between liberation movement (SPLM) on the Temporary Arrangement for the Administration and security of the Abyei area dated 20th June, 2021.
And the final one is the United Nations Security Council resolution 1990 of 27 June 2011.
However, in 2013, the People of Abyei voted tremendously in unpopular referendum to be part of South Sudan but African Union detailed that such spontaneous referendum was a threat to peace between Sudan and South Sudan.
While on September 19, 2022 SPLM-IO refuted the proposal confined by one of the Abyei Politicians, Francis Mading Deng who suggested that Abyei should govern itself.