Surge in inter-communal violence on the border of Sudan and South Sudan

Residents of the Abyei region cross the Kiir River.

(illustrative image) AFP - ALI NGETHI

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1 min

Inter-communal violence has left dozens dead in recent days in the disputed region of Abyei, on the border between Sudan and South Sudan.

The violence that opposed members of the Ngok Dinka community, an ethnic group from the South, and Misseyira herders, Arabic-speaking nomads who come from the North in search of pasture.

The oil-rich Abyei region is claimed by Juba and Khartoum.

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According to the United Nations, this new outbreak of violence started last month with two attacks on the villages of Anet and Agok south of Abyei.

Misseriya herders reportedly launched the assault – according to local authorities – destroying the large Anet market and dozens of homes in Agok.

The violence then spread to several surrounding villages and degenerated last weekend with the death of around thirty people northwest of the city of Abyei.

Tensions between Misseriya and Ngok Dinka nomads are old and motivated by territorial disputes, access to water and pastures.

But according to an analyst in the region, the violence has been exacerbated by Abyei's lack of status.

The region, rich in water and oil, has been claimed for several decades by Sudan and South Sudan.

The peace agreement between the two countries, more than 15 years ago, failed to settle, and the region was placed

.

The Ngok Dinka want to be attached to Juba and the Misseriyas to Khartoum.

According to this same analyst, with the fall of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan and the civil war in South Sudan, the problems of Abyei have simply been forgotten.

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• Sudan

• South Sudan