Sudanese Nomads Threaten War if Excluded from Abyei Referendum

30 September 2010

Southern Sudanese artists stand next to a painted sign in the southern capital of Juba urging people to register for the upcoming independence referendum, 30 Sep 2010

With tensions mounting just three months before a critical referendum on secession in southern Sudan, deadlock surrounding the status of the Abyei region has presented another threat to the stability of post-referendum Sudan.

In an interview Wednesday with Reuters, the head of the nomadic Missiriya tribe, Mokhtar Babo Nimr, warned that his group would use force if not allowed to participate in a plebiscite being held alongside the southern referendum.

Reuters reports an estimated 2,000 people gathered in the West Kordofan town of Muglad to demand inclusion in the vote. The group presented U.N. representatives with a set of demands that included a review of Abyei's borders.

Abyei continues to be a sticking point in critical negotiations between the north and south before the votes on January 9. Analysts are increasingly worried that the deadlock could delay or prevent the critical vote and plunge the region back into war.

At the opening of the U.N. General Assembly last week, United States President Barack Obama held a separate meeting between Southern President Salva Kiir and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha to move negotiations on Abyei forward. According to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley, the talks laid the groundwork for an agreement in the near future.