Local authorities in Abyei town reject any initiative taken to resume joint markets between the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya in the disputed area of Abyei.
Joint markets between the two neighbouring communities stopped working following the rupture in the area caused by the assassination of the Ngok Dinka paramount chief Kuol Deng Kuol.
In an interview with Radio Tamazuj on Monday, Chairman of the Abyei Chamber of Commerce, Chol Deng Chol, dismissed intentions to reopen joint markets between the Ngok Dinka and the Misseriya.
Deng, however, said that the local markets were reopened after a stoppage for about eight months or more after the killing of the Ngok Dinka paramount chief Kuol Deng last year. The reopening was attended by a large number of local citizens, traders and government officials.
Confrontations
For their part, the Misseriya youth in north Abyei warned against imminent confrontations with the Ngok Dinka.
They accuse the Ngok Dinka tribe of ambushing some Misseriya herders heading to Abyei on Saturday and said that at least two people were wounded in the ambush.
The Misseriya called on the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) to take the necessary precautions in order to avert the tension between the two tribes.
File photo
Related:
Chief Kuol buried; Presidents urge both sides to ‘overcome’ incident (7 May 2013)
UN to investigate Kuol killing, deploy another battalion in Abyei: Ladsous (7 July 2013)