Sudanese oil violence, post referendum

KPFA Weekend News, 03.05.2011:

Audio link:  http://goo.gl/133F2


Host Cameron Jones:  The Southern Sudanese people voted for independence from Northern Sudan in January of this year, but the hotly contested, oil rich Abyei region, between the districts now scheduled to join the independent states of North and South Sudan, did not vote with the rest of the country because North and South could not agree as to who would be eligible to vote.   Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir vowed that he would not agree to Abyei becoming part of the South.   This week clashes broke out again in Abyei, and the death toll is already reported to be over 100.  KPFA's Ann Garrison has more.

Sudan's oil rich Abyei
district is in yellow.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

KPFA/Ann Garrison:  Some sources claim that the Misseriya herdsmen identified with the North attacked the Dinka Ngok farmers identified with the South, but Government of Southern Sudan spokesperson Marial Benjamin Barnaba blamed the Sudanese Army and Popular Defense Forces loyal to Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir.

Marial Benjamin Barnaba:   “The areas being attacked are north of Abyei and the people on the attack are the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Popular Defense Forces. This morning at nine fifty am, Makir village was completely burned down by the Sudanese Armed Forces which is being claimed to be Misseriya.  And other attacks are pending.  The citizens of Abyei, the Ngok Dinka in this areas, they have been moving southwards because of these continuous attacks and in fact most of the causalities have been the local police, plus the civilian population.”

Nile Fortune Managing Editor
Mugume Rwakaringi. 

KPFA:  Nile Fortune Editor and Contributor Mugume Rwakaringi told KPFA that the people of Abyei are trapped between the counter accusations of Khartoum and Juba, the capitols of Northern and Southern Sudan, and that traditional Misseriya herdsmen and Dinka Ngok farmers would peacefully co-exist, if not for the oil thirst of the outside forces driving the conflict.

In January, as soon as the votes for independence had been counted in Southern Sudan, Massachusetts Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry declared the U.S.A. would not leave Abyei behind.

John Kerry:  “Let’s be clear.  Even as today marks the end of one journey and the beginning of another, a lot of work remains ahead in the very new term in the next months of the CPA before July 9th, in order to resolve outstanding issues regarding oil revenues, borders, and of course Abyei and Darfur.  Abyei is front and center on the agenda even today.  Abyei is not being left behind, Abyei is not being forgotten.

KPFA:  Mugume Rwakaringi's essay, "Who should save the Abyei people?" will be available tomorrow on the websites of the San Francisco Bay View and AfrobeatRadio.  For Pacifica, KPFA and AfrobeatRadio, I'm Ann Garrison.

KPFA/Afrobeat News: Southern Sudan votes, but not oil rich Abyei

Sudan's oil rich Abyei Territory did not vote
with the rest of Southern Sudan this week because
North and South could not agree on who would

be allowed to vote.

KPFA Weekend News Host Rose Ketabchi:

The Southern Sudanese people finished voting in their referendum on independence today.  A new African nation, Southern Sudan is expected to emerge as a result. However, the people of Sudan's hotly contested, oil rich region of Abyei did not vote with the rest of the South this week.  KPFA's Ann Garrison reports.

KPFA/Ann Garrison:
Fighting began in the Abyei Territory, on the border of what are expected to become North and South Sudan, before the rest of the Southern Sudanese people began voting on independence last Sunday. Seventy-six people were reported dead as the fighting continued this week. Before the South began voting, Omar al-Bashir told Aljazeera that he would not accept Abyei's independence from the North:

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir:

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir

We will not accept Abyei to be part of the South. If any party takes any independent action over Abyei that would be the beginning of a conflict. That's why we say that the status quo in Abyei remains unchanged, with the same administration and components, until we reach a solution.

KPFA:
The Abyei Territory is an area of 4,038 square miles accorded special administrative status by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War in 2005. It is not only oil rich but also very fertile agricultural land. The Dinka Ngoc farming people, who are aligned with the South, are Abyei's majority inhabitants, but the nomadic Misseriya herdsmen, aligned with the North, have grazing rights and Abyei is considered a historical bridge between North and South Sudan.

Mugume Rwakaringi, the Managing Editor of Nile Fortune, is the author of the magazine's November-December cover story "Why Abyei Oil Will Make or Break South Sudan Independence?" "On the map of Sudan itself, Abyei is a mere spot in the middle of the country," he wrote, "but because of its oil reserves, its importance is far beyond its size. Abyei is Sudan’s main oil producing region and by 2003, was responsible for over one-third of Sudan’s crude oil production.

Rwakaringi spoke to KPFA and AfrobeatRadio from Juba, the capitol of Southern Sudan:

Mugume Rwakaringi, Managing Editor of Nile Fortune,
based in Juba, South Sudan

Mugume Rwakaringi:

Concerning the reaction of the Sudanese people, if the Abyei people are not allowed to vote: If the Abyei issue is not resolved, then you would expect no stability in this region. That's why the Abyei is of concern for every Sudanese. They all want the Abyei crisis resolved. That's when they would be assured of stability in their country, be it the North or the South.

KPFA:
In NBC Dateline's December 3rd "Winds of War" report, NBC host Ann Curry asked UN Ambassador Susan Rice whether she will consider intervention by a multilateral military force if war breaks out again. Rice responded that she would not rule out anything.

For Pacifica, KPFA and AfrobeatRadio, this is Ann Garrison.


(KPFA audio link: http://goo.gl/Q84jG.)

AfrobeatRadio Special on the Southern Sudanese Referendum on Independence

Rev. Dr. Nikita Imani, Associate
Professor of Sociology at James
Madison University and ordained
minister in both the Baptist and
African Orthodox Churches spoke to
Afrobeat Radio about the Southern
Sudanese Referendum.

Are peace and self-determination possible for the Sudanese people, despite troops amassing in both north and the south, and vast oil wealth, concentrated in the South and coveted by competitive foreign powers? Ann Garrison reports on Sudan Referendum January Sat 8, on WBAI 99.5 FM NY, streaming live @ WBAI.Org at 4:00 PM EST. Guests: Mugume D. Rwakaringi, Rev. Dr. Nikita Imani, Peter Erlinder, Milton Allimadi.

Audio link:  http://www.anngarrison.com/images/mp3s/afrobeatequalized.mp3.

Voting began in Southern Sudan on their referendum on independence began on January 9, 2011.