Sudan troops pullout from oil-rich Abyei raises hopes for return of IDPs

JUBA, Tuesday

A pullout of the last Sudan Armed Forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army forces from the contested oil-rich area of Abyei may accelerate the return of displaced persons to the area, that has until now lagged on the fears of a recurrence of conflict.

“It’s a small step,” Simon Kun, the chairperson of Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission told the Nation Friday. “We hope people will move backer in larger numbers.”

The north Sudan troops, in May 2008, launched a deadly attack on the contested oil area, razing an entire town to the ground, and displacing the population.

The fighting was the worst since the peace agreement that ended a 21-year civil war, according to the Assessment and Evaluation Commission.

The troops withdrew on March 12, leaving the area under the Joint/Integrated troops.

“This shows how much the parties can do when they work together, as partners,” Ashraf Qazi, the Special Representative of UN Secretary General said in a statement. “This kind of cooperation can serve as a model as we tackle the remaining challenges ahead.”

But the pullout, officials say, is only one among several factors that would influence the return of the displaced persons to the area.

Despite support, and nearly a year on, a majority of Abyei’s displaced are still steering clear of the area.

The fighting displaced some 92,000 people from Abyei to Agok, according to the relief agency.

“When the Abyei incident happened, it was SSRRC that went in first,” Kun says. “We had an operation there and in Agok. We had to manage the crisis.”

The relief commission still has offices in Abyei to handle the returnees.

“We have now trying to move the displaced persons from Agok to Abyei,” Kun says.

The populations are moving, but not fast enough.

Only about 40,000 have moved back, according to the relief commission.

In February, about 100 families, most of them between one and five people, moved back into Abyei.

“The issue of moving is not simple thing,” Kun says. “They are not absolutely sure they are secure. But they move only when they feel secure. So we have some reservations about the speed of the returns.”

Of particular worry is the continued wrangling over the status of the area.

Some in the area fear a resumption of fighting as long as the status of the area is not complete.

“The area is highly contested,” Simon Kun, the chairperson of the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission told IRIN Friday.

“Remember the area has Misseriya, and they move back and forth.”

Misseriya, an Arab nomadic tribe often conducts raids across the north-south Sudan borders.

Others feel a resolution of the wrangles will not be the end of war in the area.

The Abyei Roadmap agreed between the north and south Sudan ex-foes gave a time frame for deploying joint military troops and joint police forces in the oil rich area. Under the agreement, police would be deployed in the area after consultation between the National Interior Minister and the Southern Sudan Interior Minister. The United Nations Mission in the Sudan force in Abyei would move freely and access the north and the south of Abyei.

The south and north Sudan also agreed on a joint leadership for the area. The roadmap agreement is not fully implemented.

In a report last week, the South Sudan Parliament said that integrated police are neither complete nor deployed in the strategic locations, according to the Abyei roadmap agreement.

According to the report, Abyei is a ghost town, dilapidated and in ruin.

“Abyei will always remain a contested area whether we secede or unite,” James Lual Deng, a Member of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly said last week. “It is only through war that we can have Abyei whether we like it or not.”

The ongoing court battle in The Hague is meant to at least put some calm and peace into the equation.

The two parties, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the National Congress Party last month submitted final arguments to the Abyei Arbitration Tribunal.

The south argues that the ABC experts did not exceed their mandate in defining and delimiting the area of the Nine Ngok Chiefdoms transferred to Kordofan in 1905.

The north says the experts based their report on the 1956 boundaries when they should have used the 1905 boundaries.

According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a 21 year north south war, Abyei is defined as "the area of the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms transferred to Kordofan in 1905."

The Abyei administration is all but in name.

So long as the two partners have not yet resolved the wrangle over the status of the area, there won’t be enough money to run the administration.

“Abyei administration can not work without funds because how can it mobilize the IDPs to return back to Abyei where there are no schools, health centres and water supply,” one MP said in Parliament.

Failure to conclude deliberations on where these Ngok kingdoms lie makes it too early to forecast displaced persons returns, officials say.

The relief commission is hoping that the people who return to the area will show those dragging their feet that it’s safe to return.

“We make assurances, move in, give them what is needed,” Kun says. “When the others see the services rendered, they say, ‘oh, the area is secure, there are services there. Let’s go back’.”

The slow return is delaying a complete assessment of what the people in the area need, and nobody is saying for certain what the humanitarian needs are during any specified period.

“We are waiting,” the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs deputy regional coordinator for Southern Sudan, Lise Drande, last week told reporters. “When the populations start moving, we will do [a full] assessment.”

If the withdrawal of the joint units sends messages that security is improving, people may return sooner than later, according to Grande.

“They vote with their feet,” Grande said. “When they do, the humanitarian agencies would be there to support their recovery.”

May be they won’t vote too soon.

The ejection of foreign non-governmental organizations in Darfur has reverberated in Abyei, Southern Kordufan and Blue Nile – all areas jointly run by both the north and the south, according to officials. Some aid agencies working in Darfur also worked in the three areas.

The consequences have forced Southern Sudan officials to calm the remaining NGOs.

“All NGOs and Humanitarian Agencies that are operating in both Southern Sudan and the three areas should continue their work as usual and we also welcome those who programs where closed down in Darfur to work here in South if they wish,” SSRRC said in a March 12 letter to the UN humanitarian agency.

“The Three Areas [are] a share[d] responsibility by NCP and SPLM, according to the CPA and that all the NGOs and Humanitarian agencies have to continue their operation,” the letter adds, “and neither NCP nor SPLM should terminate their operation without consulting one another as the parties to the CPA.”