Abstract
The question of the future status of Abyei remains a deeply contested issue between Sudan and the independent South Sudan. The connection between the political violence in Abyei and eruption of the two civil wars in Sudan is sparsely documented, but this history reveals the character of the Abyei problem. This article provides an analysis of the role of political violence in the emergence of the dispute around the status of Abyei. It charts the evolution of the problem chronologically, first situating the history of the Ngok Dinka population of Abyei, and then mapping the history of violence through the independence period, the first civil war, the early 1970s and the failure of the Addis Ababa Agreement, and finally the second civil war in the 1980s. Political violence in Abyei became central to the large-scale contestation between the south and the north in Sudan, the struggle of the Abyei people contributing towards shaping a southern Sudanese identity and in defining the character of the independent state of South Sudan.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this article was presented at the conference on ‘Struggles over Emerging States in Africa’, at the University of Durham, 9–11 May 2013. The author would like to thank Douglas H. Johnson, Øystein H. Rolandsen, the staff of the Rift Valley Institute, and Francis Deng, the permanent representative of South Sudan to the United Nations, for their constructive comments on earlier drafts. The author acknowledges support from The Research Council of Norway, under the project 214349/F10 ‘The Dynamics of State Failure and Violence’, administered by the Peace Research Institute, Oslo.
Notes
30. Interview with Ring Makuac, Juba, South Sudan, July 2014.
31. Interview with Ring Makuac, Juba, South Sudan, July 2014.
53. National Records Office, Khartoum (hereafter NRO), WKD/66.E.5, P. Hogg, “Future of the Ngok Dinka,” letter by District Commissioner of western Kordofan to Governor of Kordofan, 1951.
64. Interview with Justin Deng, March 2013, Kuajok, South Sudan. Deng was one of the youths who took the letter to the colonial administration.
65. John Garang, “Speech to the People of Abyei,” cited in “Editorial: How Dr Garang Wanted Abyei to Be?,” Sudan Mirror, January 26, 2007.
70. Interview with Manu Kuol, March 2013, Wau, South Sudan.
77. Interview with Justin Deng, March 2013, Kuajok, South Sudan; CitationRolandsen, “Making of the Anya-Nya.”
78. Interview with Dodol Nyang, April 2013, Abyei, South Sudan.
79. Interview with Dominic Kuol, March 2013, Wau, South Sudan.
80. Interview with Dominic Kuol, March 2013, Wau, South Sudan.
82. Interview with Dominic Kuol, April 2013, Wau, South Sudan.
83. Interview with Manau Kuol, April 2013, Wau, South Sudan.
85. Interview with Dominic Kuol, April 2013, Wau, South Sudan.
86. Interview with Justin Deng, April 2013, Kuajok, South Sudan.
90. “Draft organic law to organize regional self-government in the Southern Provinces of the Sudan,” Addis Ababa Agreement, Article 3(iii). Emphasis added.
91. Interview with Ring Arop, October 2013, Juba, South Sudan. Arop delivered speech on behalf of the people of Abyei during President Nemieri's visit there in 1972.
99. Interview with Zakharia Bol Deng, September 2013, Birmingham, UK.
100. Interview with Arop Madut, October 2013, Oxford, UK.
101. John Garang, “Speech to the People of Abyei,” cited in “Editorial: How Dr Garang Wanted Abyei to Be?,” Sudan Mirror, January 26, 2007.
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