Abyei issue resurfaces: Does it negatively affect good relations between Sudan and South Sudan?

The Government of Sudan on September 26 rejected any unilateral action regarding Abyei and called for the formation of a joint administration, consistent with the 2011 Agreement on Interim Arrangements for the Administration and Security of the Area.

“[Sudan] rejects all unilateral measures by the Republic of South Sudan and encourages it to abide by the provisions of the 2005 Abyei protocol, the bilateral agreement of 2011, and UN Security Council Resolution 1990 dated 2011,” the government position paper said.

It called for stopping all administrative measures by the South Sudan government, such as the designation of Abyei as the capital of one of the states of South Sudan, the appointment of a civilian as deputy commander of the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei, and everything considered an amendment to the text of the agreement without the consensus of the two parties.

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit said last Tuesday that any settlement regarding the disputed area depends on improving relations with Sudan, from which his country separated in July 2011.

“South Sudan’s foreign policy to Sudan supports cooperation between our independent republics. The government is currently committed to supporting the ongoing transformation of Sudan’s governance structure for both bilateral and regional stability,” he said.

Mayardit explained that his government is aware of the growing frustrations of the Abyei residents, stressing that his government did not intend this situation as much as only responding to the challenges arising from the development of the situation.

On September 19, the advisor of the South Sudan President for National Security, Tut Galwak, announced the suspension of talks between his country and the Sudanese government regarding addressing the situation in the disputed Abyei region due to the political turmoil that Sudan has been suffering from for months.

Galwak said that they will resume discussions if the government is re-formed in Sudan.

According to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms in Abyei were to vote in a referendum to decide which country they would belong to.

The two countries failed to agree on who was entitled to participate in the referendum on self-determination due to the Ngok Dinka (South Sudan) refusing the participation of the Misseriya nomads (Sudan).

In 2013, the Ngok Dinka tribe organized a unilateral referendum that recognized the region's affiliation with South Sudan. However, Khartoum and Juba refused to recognize it, as they refused to implement an agreement to form a joint administration in the region until an agreement on the future of the region.

In May 2022, Francis Mading Deng, a prominent politician and former UN diplomat from Abyei, proposed that Sudan and South Sudan give the region self-governing status, separating it from the two neighboring countries, with the United Nations providing security and maintaining law and order until the region decides its fate.

Deng made it clear that making his hometown of Abyei independent of Juba and Khartoum could help achieve lasting peace, security and stability.

He said this would help enhance development opportunities for women and youth in Abyei, and thus achieve peaceful coexistence between the Ngok Dinka and neighboring communities.

Neither Sudan nor South Sudan responded to Deng's suggestion.

South Sudan sponsored the peace agreement concluded by the transitional government of Sudan in 2020 with five armed groups. After two years, there were complaints about the government's failure to comply with most of the terms of the agreement, including the security protocol and the integration of ex-fighters.