UN brings Sudanese tribes Missiriya & Dinka together for historic peace talks

Report from UN News Centre, Tuesday, 29 December 2009:
UN brings Sudanese tribes together for historic peace talks

The United Nations has paved the way for historic talks between clashing tribes to bolster the fragile peace in the disputed oil-rich area of Abyei, close to the border between Sudan’s north and south and where a referendum on its future is scheduled to be held in 2011.

Nearly five years after the signing of the peace pact ending more than two decades of north-south strife, one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest civil wars in which at least 2 million people were killed, tensions persist in Abyei, home to the Missiriya and Dinka Ngok tribes.

In July, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague shifted some of the borders of Abyei, leaving control of the Heglig oil field with the national Government in Khartoum.

Although that ruling was welcomed by both the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the two signatories to the 2005 peace agreement, the relationship between the Missiriya and Dinka Ngok tribes has been marked by clashes and inflamed tensions.

Recognizing the need for dialogue at this critical juncture, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and the Abyei Area Administration joined forces to bring the leaders of the two tribes together for the first time in the conflict’s history.

During the 14 December meeting, which kicked off to cheering, drumming and dancing, top officials from the tribes discussed border security, arms control and migration issues.

Over 2,000 people from both tribes attended the talks to accelerate reconciliation and to dispel misconceptions, such as the rumour that the Dinka intend to build a barrier to prevent the Missiriya from herding their cattle between pasture and water.

“Peaceful co-existence is not a matter of choice, but is prerequisite for the continued existence of the two communities because the Missiriya and the Dinka will always remain neighbours irrespective of the 2011 referendum results,” said Amir Kwol Arop Kwol, Paramount Chief of the Dinka Ngok tribe.

The dialogue was also the first in the history of peacebuilding in the Abyei area in which women took an active part in the talks.

“Women bear the heaviest burden during conflict situations,” according to Nyancuk Truk, a representative of the Dinka. “We not only lose our sons and husband in the fighting, but we also lose our dignity.”

UNDP stressed in a press release that “only through the support to community reconciliation dialogues in Sudan that bring together women groups, youth and traditional leaders will the region be able to ensure its hard-won peace.”

Oct. 3-5 - At least 23 people killed, 21 injured in cattle raids between Mundari and Dinka Bor in two Central Equatoria State villages near Juba

Dinka and Mundari tribesmen clashed throughout the weekend in two Central Equatoria State villages near the southern capital of Juba, Hussein Mar.  At least 23 people were killed,  including six civilians and four soldiers, 21 injured and more than a thousand fled their homes.

More than 2,000 people have died and 250,000 been displaced in inter-tribal violence across the south since January, according to the United Nations, with the rate of violent deaths now exceeding that of war-torn Darfur in west Sudan.

The remote and marshy Jonglei state, where French oil giant Total (TOTF.PA) holds a massive, mainly unexplored concession, has been particularly hard hit by cattle raiding and related killings that have fractured communities along ethnic lines.

Source:  Report from Cairo, Egypt (AFP) ‎Oct 3, 2009
South Sudan tribal clashes leave 23 dead

At least 23 people were killed and more than a thousand fled their homes in ethnic clashes in volatile south Sudan over the weekend, a Sudanese official said on Monday.

Dinka and Mundari tribesmen clashed throughout the weekend in two Central Equatoria State villages near the southern capital of Juba, Hussein Mar, deputy governor of neighbouring Jonglei state, told AFP.

"The violence killed at least 23 people, including six civilians and four soldiers," he said, adding that 1,700 had been displaced in the fighting.

Parts of the Christian and animist south have been rocked by ethnic violence over the past year.

More than 2,000 people have died and 250,000 been displaced in inter-tribal violence across the south since January, according to the United Nations, with the rate of violent deaths now exceeding that of war-torn Darfur in west Sudan.

Clashes between rival ethnic groups in southern Sudan erupt frequently -- often sparked by cattle rustling and disputes over natural resources, while others are in retaliation for previous attacks.

However, a wave of recent raids has shocked many, with an apparent sharp rise in attacks on women and children and the targeting of homesteads.

Sixteen people were killed on Saturday in clashes between forces loyal to an ex-warlord and the governor's guards in oil-rich Unity State.

Last month, more than 100 people were killed in several days of clashes in the troubled Jonglei state.

Southern officials have accused Khartoum of arming some ethnic groups, an accusation Sudan's government denies.

North-south tensions remain high, with the country still divided by the religious, ethnic and ideological differences that fuelled a 22-year civil war which ended in a 2005 peace deal.

Under that deal, the south has a six-year transitional period of regional autonomy and takes part in a unity government until a 2011 referendum on self-determination.

- - -

TIMELINE-Violence spirals in south Sudan

Oct 5, 2009 (Reuters) - South Sudan's president has blamed the military in the north for an escalation in violence in his semi-autonomous region emerging from decades of civil war, a southern official said on Monday.

More than 1,200 people have been killed by ethnic fighting this year, fuelled by a huge supply of weapons left over from over two decades of north-south war that ended with a 2005 peace deal, now faltering. Khartoum denies any involvement in the escalation in violence.

The north armed proxy militias in south Sudan during the war to intensify divisions.

The remote and marshy Jonglei state, where French oil giant Total (TOTF.PA) holds a massive, mainly unexplored concession, has been particularly hard hit by cattle raiding and related killings that have fractured communities along ethnic lines.

Here are details of some of the worst fighting:

MARCH 5-13 - At least 453 people, mainly women and children, are killed in attacks by the Lou Nuer tribe on at least 17 villages of the rival Murle ethnic group in Jonglei. The Lou Nuer say the incidents were retaliation for large-scale cattle raiding and attacks on Lou Nuer villages in January.

APRIL 18-19 - At least 177 people are killed in attacks on 16 villages of the Lou Nuer tribe by Murle fighters. Women and children are targeted in what are widely seen as revenge attacks for the March violence.

JUNE 12 - Jikany Nuer, like the Lou a sub-group of the large Nuer tribe, attack barges carrying U.N. food aid on the Sobat River to Lou Nuer areas in Jonglei. At least 40 southern soldiers and boat crew are killed.

AUG. 2 - Murle attack a Lou Nuer fishing settlement near Akobo town in Jonglei State, killing 185 people. Southern soldiers guarding the camp are also killed.

AUG. 28 - Around 800 Lou Nuer attack Wernyol, a Dinka Bor village in Jonglei State, killing 38 and wounding 76. The south's army said this was the work of a Lou Nuer militia, adding that a Murle militia also exists.

SEPT. 20 - A large group of fighters from the Lou Nuer ethnic group attack Duk Padiet village, inhabited by the Dinka Hol tribe, in Jonglei. More than 100 people are killed.

OCT. 3-5 - At least 23 people are killed and 21 injured in tit-for-tat cattle raids between the Mundari and Dinka Bor tribes, the deputy governor of Jonglei state says.

Mundari – Bor clashes kill scores, enter third day

Sudan Tribune - ‎5 October 2009:

October 4, 2009 (MAGALA, Central Equatoria) — Initial casualties of Mundari and Dinka Bor fierce clashes left scores of people dead on both sides and ...