Ruben Koops
27 May 2011
According to an anonymous diplomatic source in Abyei, the attack on the town by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF or ‘Northern army’) was a complete surprise.
Several mortar or tank shells have hit the compound during the attack, of which four exploded. Two Egyptian soldiers were injured and one UN vehicle was damaged.
Currently, the region is facing a communications black-out. According to the source that talked with Radio Netherlands, the SAF deliberately damaged the cell phone network in the area. On Friday, it was impossible to reach the UN spokesperson in Abyei.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Thursday ruled out a return to war with former enemies in the north over the contested Abyei district.
“We will not go back to war, it will not happen,” said Kiir, in his first public statement since the fighting began last week. “We are committed to peace.”
Khartoum’s chief Abyei negotiator said the northern government was “open” to negotiations with south Sudan over the contested border region of Abyei and announced talks would resume Saturday. “We are open to negotiations,” Al-Dirdiri Mohammed Ahmed, the National Congress Party’s chief negotiator on Abyei, told AFP.
Meanwhile, the conquest of Abyei Town by the northern Sudanese army is visible on satellite images. On Wednesday, the Satellite Sentinel Project stated that the NGO was able to determine several armoured vehicles that were moved into close proximity of Abyei Town. Also, the Sudanese Airforce has flown in several planes on a nearby airstrip that were used to attack ground targets.
He said the NCP and the south Sudan People’s Liberation Movement would meet in Addis Ababa on Saturday for talks that will also be attended by the African Union panel on Sudan and former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
World leaders have condemned the recent outburst of violence in central Sudan. Yesterday, US President Obama told an audience of British lawmakers that the UN presence in Abyei should be reinforced.
The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is based in Abyei. In the last few weeks, several violent incidents have taken place. Mortar rounds were fire into the compound, and on Tuesday four UNMIS helicopters were shot at by northern gunmen.
Military observer
Eisso Kronenberg, a lieutenant-colonel with the Dutch Marines was based in Abyei as a military observer. According to Kronenberg, the controlled response from South Sudan’s President Kiir is an important sign. “If Kiir talks like this, I think that we’re through. The South might just give up Abyei – this sounds like surrender.”
Kronenberg’s deployment in Abyei lasted 6 months. Despite the renewed violence in the region, the UN base located there is not a target, Kronenberg tells Radio Netherlands. “The fighting parties there know that if they attack the UNMIS base, they’re in big trouble. An incident can always happen, but orchestrated violence against the UNMIS base seems unlikely as the international consequences would be far-reaching.”
Refugees
Around 80,000 people have fled since the north Sudanese army seized the disputed Abyei region almost a week ago, a southern official said on Friday.
“The situation is going from worse to even worse,” said Dominic Deng, commissioner of the southern Twic country in south Sudan bordering Abyei, where most refugees arrived. “They are sleeping under the trees. They need food and water … some people are dying,” he told reporters.
Key battleground
The move came at a highly sensitive time for Sudan, less than seven weeks before the country’s south is expected to declare independence from the north.
Abyei was a key battleground in Sudan’s last civil war and a symbolic emblem for both sides. The region is used all year round by the southern Dinka Ngok people and for part of the year by northern Arab Misseriya nomads.
AllAfrica – All the Time