SUDAN/SOUTH SUDAN: Catholic Bishop calls for Immediate Action on Internally Displaced Persons Plight in Sudan- South Sudan Border
Bishop Tombe President of Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference
Ginaba Lino
The Bishop of El-Obeid Catholic Diocese, who is also President of Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference (SSSCBC) is calling on the Caritas fraternity, Caritas South Sudan, and other UN agencies to take immediate action to respond to the suffering of internal displaced persons in Abyei Administrative Area.
In October 26 to 3 November 2022, Bishop Yunan Tombe Trily witnessed the suffering of people during his pastoral visit to St. Mary Parish in Abyei administrative area.
Bishop Tombe said the IDPs are suffering due to ongoing communal fight between Ngok and Twiic Dinka in one of the four Counties called Aneet Romamer County of Abyei Administrative area.
He stated that he is in solidarity with the people of Abyei facing the humanitarian catastrophe.
He therefore appeals to Caritas to take action to rescue the people of Abyei Administrative Area.
“I appeal to Caritas fraternity, and Caritas South Sudan particularly to take immediate action to rescue the people of Abyei by providing food, and health services to people in Aneet and Agok.”
The Catholic prelate urged both governments of Sudan and South Sudan to call upon NGOs and UN agencies to provide immediate humanitarian assistance as well.
“I strongly call upon the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan to work hard and quickly find solution to the problem of Abyei.”
In February 2022, Inter-ethnic conflict erupted between Ngok Dinka of Abyei administrative area and Dinka Twiic Mayardit of Warrap State.
The conflict is said to have broken out due to territorial claim over a stretch of a local market.
In late October 10, violence resumed and led to loss of lives of the community, torching of homes, looting of properties and displacement of thousands of populations from both sides. According to sources, the situation has been described as terrible and horrible.
The Abyei is an area of 10,546 km2 or 4,072 sq mi [2] on the border between South Sudan and the Sudan that has been accorded “special administrative status” by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War.
The capital of Abyei Area is Abyei Town. Under the terms of Abyei Protocol, the Abyei Area was considered, on an interim basis, to be simultaneously part of both the Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of the Sudan, effectively a condominium.
In contrast to the borders of the former district, the Protocol defined Abyei Area as “the area of the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms transferred to Kordofan in 1905”. In 2005, however, a multinational border commission established this to be portions of Kordofan south. However, following continued disputes that erupted into violence and threatened the 2004 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, an international arbitration process redrew Abyei’s boundaries in 2009 to make it significantly smaller, extending no further north. This revised border has now been endorsed by all parties to the dispute.
