Sudan president says Abyei referendum to include all tribes

July 23, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir today declared his party’s acceptance of the ruling on Abyei borders rendered yesterday by an arbitration court on the Hague.
Al-Bashir addressing Arab tribe Misseriya representatives in the Sudanese capital said that the tribunal decision is binding because it is a step to bypass war.
The Sudanese head of state hailed the role of the Misseriya tribesmen in “protecting the homeland” referring to the civil war years when they helped fight Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA).
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Abyei’s award confirmed that the boundary of the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms transferred to Kordofan in 1905 are part of southern Sudan based on tribal understanding of the Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) panel of experts.
It also said that their eastern boundary in 1905 does not extend to line of Upper Nile border and attributed the oil rich area of eastern Abyei to northern Sudan.
The borders of Abyei are particularly important to southerners because Abyei residents have been promised a referendum on whether to join southern Sudan in January 2011, under the terms of the peace deal.
On the same day, south Sudan as a whole is also due to vote on whether to split off as a separate country.
Al-Bashir said that all Misseriya Abyei residents would have the right to vote in the referendum even where the land was awarded to Dinka Ngok.
He also promised the Arab tribe development and to reap the benefits of the oil fields with services to their areas.
Sudanese state media quoted Misseriya leaders as expressing satisfaction over the ruling.
However, Hamdan Ahmed Ali, a Misseriya tribe member calling himself “The Emir of the Mujahedeen” told the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper that most of the tribe reject the ruling.
Ali said that his tribe does not care about the oil as much as they care about the land.
“Oil means nothing to us and it cannot be a substitute to the pastures, water and the land owned by our brothers among the Dinka Ngok” he said.
Ali blasted the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) accusing the latter of betraying them for the sake of oil.
However, he ruled out any return to war or bearing arms against any party but cautioned that they will choose joining the South in the 2011 Abyei referendum.
(ST)