Abyei Official Calls for International Intervention to Break Impasse

Khartoum, Sudan

A senior official from the disputed Abyei region has called for an immediate and aggressive intervention by the international community to break a stalemate on the fate of citizens in the oil-rich state.

Deng Arop Kuol Chief Administrator of Abyei accused the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) of deliberately refusing to implement the Abyei Protocol,

where he called for the international committee to pay focused and aggressive
attention on the issue to break the deadlock.

Deng was speaking during an interview with the Sudan Tribune, where accused the Khartoum government of using force to attempt to annex the region to the north.

“The government in Khartoum is no longer interested in seeking peace to settle the issue of Abyei because it feels all attempts and proposals never comes out in their favour so they are resorting to the use of force,” said Kuol.

A referendum on fateful citizenship of residents of Abyei was supposed to be
conducted along with that of South’s secession but was delayed over outstanding issues which still are yet to be solved as talks have collapsed.

Abyei residents are expected to decide on whether to remain in north
or join the independent south but row over voting rights of region’s two contending tribes and possible border separation have resulted in further delays.

The south Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) is against enlisting members of the Misseriya- Arab nomads, whose voting fate is yet undecided,

accusing the north of transferring them from the north to influence the vote
against the native Dinka Ngok who are expected to vote in favour of joining the

south. The Misseriya have threatened to carry out acts of violence in
the region if they won’t be allowed to vote.

Kuol’s statement follows Sunday’s heavy clashes between north’s Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) army and Abyei’s local police forces that left 14 dead and several other combatants wounded from both sides.

Violence began when the police stopped a convoy of SAF troops that had entered Abyei against a sign agreement between two regions that allows only a joint force to enter the disputed region.

Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamad Sudanese Interior Minister told a press conference on Tuesday that the convoy had been sent to reinforce the joint forces after the south had earlier sent more troops to the region. Hamad denied allegations that the SAF forces had initiated the attack but SPLM officials claim that they had clear intention of attacking the area and take control of it.

The south is awaiting legitimate recognition as an independent state in July
following January’s overwhelming vote in favour of secession. The referendum was part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a two-decade long north-south conflict in which an estimated 2 million people were killed and over four million displaced.

Last week President Omar Al-Bashir gave a dreading statement that his
government would not recognise south Sudan as an independent state if it did not give up claims on Abyei.

The UN secretary general representative Haile Menkerios said after his separate meetings with both leaders that both parties committed that the Abyei protocol will be carried out under oversight of the UN. He also said that the two sides have agreed to totally withdraw all unauthorized forces from Abyei, as security will be maintained by the joint –integrated units.

Harare, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Coalition Gov’t Resumes Election Talks

Zimbabwe’s three coalition parties met in Cape Town South   Africa on Thursday to carry on with talks on possible road-map of the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for next year. Negotiators representing three unity government parties met with South African President Jacob Zuma’s representatives and advisers at an undisclosed location in Cape Town to discuss the elections road-map and outstanding issues in the implementation of the 2008 Global Political Agreement (GPA).

President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur

Mutambara of MDC-M a faction of the former opposition party formed the
inclusive government under the GPA accord in September 2008 following flawed presidential polls that enveloped the country into months of violence.

Tsvangirai told reporters at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town
that he expects the outcome of the next elections to be legitimate and credible

and conducted to the satisfaction of all observers. He said that elections will
probably be held within 12 months under condition that a new constitution is

agreed upon and voted in a referendum, and that consensus is reached on election date.

He praised Zuma the African Union-appointed mediator of the talks for successfully blocking efforts by President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF
party to force a new round of polls this year, a time when the country was not ready.

Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of trying to collapse the unity government so that
they could have elections under his conditions.

A Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegation met with US
government officials earlier last week in Washington to discuss on possible

solutions to resolving the Zimbabwean political deadlock.

In a brief statement, the Washington government acknowledged importance of SADC’s role as a guarantor of the 2008 power-sharing agreement and praised the regional bloc of calling for a road-map to Zimbabwean polls.

With an upcoming SADC summit on Zimbabwe later this month in Namibia talks on the election road-map seems to have taken centre stage, with all inclusive parties demanding for a clear road-map to elections under conditions of promoting a democratic ballot.

Differences within Mugabe’s ZANU-PF on possible election date seem to becoming evident, with recent remark by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa a senior member of the party saying that elections cannot be held until next year, given the need for a constitutional referendum first.

The coalition government continues to be rocked by setbacks over implementation of the accord. Tsvangirai’s MDC has been accusing Mugabe of failing to honour the pact and intimidation of his party supporters. On the other side Mugabe blames Tsvangirai of being responsible of the economic sanctions and travel bans targeting him and his cronies.