Sudan: Fresh war in Abyei

A military supremacy contest between the North and South Sudan armies has erupted into an internal war in the oil-rich Abyei region, leading to shelling and the bombardment of homes in Abyei Township.

Growing tensions in the region were underlined last week when a local dispute exploded into armed clashes between the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), in an apparent fight over the control of the vast oil wells situated in the country's most-oil productive region near the North-South border. Thousands of residents have fled the area.

After nearly a year of exchanging blame (and deployment positions), the SAF, under the belief that the SPLA had withdrawn a section of its troops assigned to guard the oil fields in Abyei region, occupied Abyei, and fighting erupted when SPLA forces attacked in an attempt to push the rival troops back, killing at least 21 northern soldiers.

Lu Biong Deng, South Sudan's Minister for Presidential Affairs in Juba, said on Tuesday that the situation in Abyei had continued to deteriorate during the course of the previous week.

"More than 30 people have been killed and if we go by the higher figure, they would be more than 50. We have counted 30 bodies; 20 disappeared without trace in the bush. The most affected are women and children," Deng told ISN Security Watch by telephone from Abyei region.

South Sudan troops have moved further south from the main oil regions in Abyei. However, Sudanese government forces in the North (SAF), however, see the mass troop movements around the region as a security threat.

(In)Comprehensive Peace Accord

Analysts say it is not clear who is at fault in the Abyei fighting but cite the refusal of the ruling Sudan National Congress Party (NCP) to honor the decision of a boundary panel on Abyei for being behind the escalation of the conflict.

"Both parties should commit to the full demilitarization of Abyei. The Sudanese army [SAF] had committed to withdraw […] both parties should commit to withdraw," David Mozesky, the Horn of Africa Project Director for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), told ISN Security Watch.

According to Mozesky, the non-implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), especially the sections regarding the Abyei Protocol, is partly at the center of the recent fighting, which has defied a temporary ceasefire accord reached on 16 May.

Abyei has been without a government since the CPA was signed on 9 January 2005. Mozesky said the failure to implement the special agreement on Abyei, especially on border demarcation, was behind the six-month-long military deadlock.

"The government [in Khartoum] has refused it, there has been a vacuum and in the last six months, there has been a military build-up. The local police are government aligned with some local militia," Mozesky said.

Under the Sudan peace accord (six protocols comprise the CPA aimed at addressing the key causes of the 21-year-old war that ravaged South Sudan) the Abyei accord plays a more central role.

In the new war that has broken out in the region, North Sudan forces claim they are resisting attempts by the South to assume administrative control of Abyei region while also accusing the South of "imposing military rule" there.

Khartoum insists the South must respect a colonial-era administrative boundary, which gives control of Abyei to a northern Sudan state.

'Self'-determination

"There have been bombings in the area and we fear more attacks could be carried out. We urge the international community to step up food distribution to the people of Abyei who have been displaced. The situation is still tense and we don't know what will happen in the next few days," said Deng.

In the wealth-sharing accord, it is stipulated that Sudan's total oil production must be shared equally between the North and the South, based on the amounts of crude drilled from South Sudan oil fields.

In 2011, the people of Abyei vote on whether to align with the North or the South under the comprehensive accord.

The semi-autonomous South has claimed the right to own and administer the oil-rich state, which is home to nearly two-thirds of Sudan's heavy crude oil. The North insists that it will not allow Abyei to fall under southern rule.

Senior South Sudan official Edward Lino, who was appointed to oversee regional administration, accuses Khartoum of stoking the fighting in Abyei by stationing its forces just north of the area, the position from where it launched a fresh last week.

Lino insists that the South's army has withdrawn from its positions further southward as required under a temporary pact reached with the North. SAF commanders insist this hasn't been done.

"The ceasefire did not hold. There was heavy fighting in the area as soon as the ceasefire was signed […]the situation risks escalating," Mozesky said.

In accordance with the CPA, Abayei's oil fields were to be guarded by a Joint Integrated Unit, drawn from both sides. SAF officials claim the South Sudan army has already withdrawn 3,000 of its troops from the 24,000-strong force.

The withdrawal of the South Sudan forces from the joint army, formed in compliance with a landmark peace accord which ended one of Africa's longest-running civil wars, signals the start of a new and potentially dangerous phase in the efforts to unite Sudan.

Humanitarian crisis

The latest fighting has driven the region to a new humanitarian crisis. The South Sudan officials have decried the growing humanitarian situation there.

"People are sleeping under trees for fear of attacks if they return to their homes. The Sudanese army [militiamen backed by Khartoum government] based in Abyei have been killing people, breaking the clause in the CPA on Abyei, which prevents hostilities in the area until the issue of Abyei is resolved," Deng said.

Lazarus Sumbeiywo, a Kenyan who brokered the North-South peace agreement in 2005, told ISN Security Watch, "What is happening is Abyei is very discouraging, especially coming at a time when both parties have been implementing the CPA. The fresh fighting should be condemned by all."