Sudan Human Rights Monitor Issue 11

(April-May 2011) Despite the CPA agreement on a referendum for Abyei to be held simultaneously to the Southern vote on 9 January to determine its administrative status as part of the North or South, the vote never took place due to disputes over voter eligibility. Several clashes took place in the transitional period. Despite international pressure on the National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) to resolve the situation, little progress was made. Successive security arrangements were broken almost as soon as they were signed, and both sides grew more obstinate as talks became more and more complex, leading to tremendous anxieties and existential fears1 for the Northern aligned Misseriya and Southern Dinka, respectively. The Kadugli Agreements2 brokered in South Kordofan in January and March which agreed to the withdrawal of all security forces and members of the Southern Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Northern Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) eventually became the catalyst behind the SAF’s 21 May seizure of Abyei and dissolution of the Abyei administration; a 19 May attack by alleged members of the SPLA on an UNMIS convoy transporting members of the SAF outside of Abyei as part of the Kadugli Agreement provoked the North, who in turn reacted with a disproportionate display of force when they deployed to Abyei.

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