On Abyei

For the past few days, I've set myself up in the Operations office where there was a free bit of desk.  Its not usually too busy except for the guy in the radio room calling whoever needs to be called and the static he usually gets as an answer.  The other guys in this particular office are pretty easy going and someone is either playing some hip-hop or Ethiopian music on their computer.

Today, John, a staff guy from Abyei came into the office urgently needing to send an e-mail to someone in Khartoum to clear up a finance issue.  I loaned him my computer and we started talking about how things have been going up his way recently since last months fighting.

In the middle of May, BBC and the other major newswires had reported a major three-day clash in the contested area around Abyei town.  Abyei is a currently a special administrative area whose territorial status was to be determined by the Abyei Boundary Commission and a future referendum.  At the micro-level, there has been conflict between the local Dinka, nomadic Messeriya herdsem who claim grazing rights, and Khartoum backed Messeriya militias.  Political elites on all sides have mobilized and armed followers using ethnic appeals.  Abyei holds immense economic importance to both the Northern and Southern governments, with 2005-2007 oil revenues of USD 1.8 billion.  There are also elements within the National Congress Party and the Messeriya who may see violence as a tool to re-negotiate the Abyei Boundary Agreement or even scuttle the CPA.  Consequently, Abyei in recent months has threatened to become a national flash point for the return to war as the Sudanese Armed Forces, SPLA, and local militias were deployed to the area in increasing numbers.  Last month, things began breaking down in a big way.

John, it turns out, works for a Save the Children program in Abyei town and was there when the violence broke out.  It was my first time to hear from someone what actually had gone on during those days when the fighting was worst.  He heard gunfire late one night as SAF units and the local police had a skirmish.  The next day the SAF moved in with more troops and clashed with units of the SPLA who increasingly deployed more heavy weaponry.  On the 20th, SPLA forces attacked the SAF camp in Abyei town and began setting up checkpoints in the areas under their control.  The SPLA began checking people's ID's and whether they could speak the local language.  If a person was found to be Arab, he was in a world of deep shit.

A month later, the town is much quieter.  The governments of Khartoum and Southern Sudan agreed to deploy Joint Integrated Units to maintain peace in the area.  Both also reached an agreement to use international arbitration to settle the boundary dispute.  NGO's immediately resumed their services and projects.

Yet the town is nearly entirely destroyed.  Most buildings had been either shelled or burned to the ground, as were any vehicles and motorcycles left on the road.  Vacated NGO compounds were torched in the fighting or, more likely, by looters.  John told me that one of the few things left at the SC compound was the enormous safe with their cash.  It was too big to haul away and crude attempts to open it would have destroyed the cash inside.

The human cost though is staggering.  No one is really sure how many were killed during the fighting, but as a result, over 50,000 were displaced and the town still faces and emergency situation.  John tells me that their most pressing need is potable water.  A river runs near the town, but the water is unusable.  Many more bore-holes are needed. Fast.  Although the fighting has ended, a major disaster clearly remains.  Those worst affected now are sadly those who have the least to do with the conflict.