Abandoning Abyei, Again?

JUBA, Sudan–Given the lengthy radio silence on my blog, I understand if anyone who has checked here recently might accuse me of falling into a “post-referendum slumber.” I am guilty of neglecting this blog but in fact I have not been slumbering, rather getting some ducks in a row for my upcoming month of reporting from Nigeria and, most recently, covering concerning developments in Abyei and Jonglei state.

I promise a real update soon, but now it is Friday morning in Juba and time to make some phone calls about the latest from Abyei. I just spoke with Deng Arop Kuol, the top government official in Abyei, and although I have only met the man once, I think it was fair to say from his tone of voice on the phone that he was clearly tired and likely depressed about the situation. What a sterile word I just used to describe the events of this week: multiple attacks on police posts and villages north of the town of Abyei by well-armed forces that can safely be described as militias; the southern government and Abyei officials like Kuol believe these forces are in fact northern Sudanese army troops, but this has yet to be independently verified.

Kuol told me that today he would be receiving in Abyei a high-level delegation of northern and southern leaders. He said he has had trouble this week contacting the two Offices of the Presidents, in Khartoum and Juba, but finally made contact with southern leader Salva Kiir’s office in Juba. Kuol noted that the joint Presidency in Khartoum is “supposed to be in contact with us [the Abyei government] on a day-to-day basis,” and of course he’s right: Kuol was appointed by the Presidency and the “special administrative status” of Abyei means that he in theory reports directly to the Presidency, who has been distinctly MIA this week on the latest Abyei crisis.

I am reminded of a 2008 Human Rights Watch report which detailed the violations by the Sudanese Armed Forces and their allied militias when they razed the town of Abyei in May ’08. The report is titled “Abandoning Abyei.” A fitting title, and an ominous warning of what could happen if Abyei is once again abandoned by the leaders of north and south who have made the border zone their proxy battleground time and time again.