A retired South Sudanese politician said that the disputed Abyei area belongs to Sudan, drawing mixed reactions from members of the public in South Sudan.
South Sudanese elder Bona Malual was speaking at a symposium organized by Theiba Press on the prospects for peace in South Sudan and cooperation between Sudan and South Sudan in Khartoum last week.
"Abyei is a Sudanese territory and that’s true. According to the1956 boundary, Abyei is part of the north, so Abyei is not a problem between Sudan and South Sudan,” he said.
“The problem of Abyei right now is that the people of Abyei want to be part of South Sudan, and they have the rights because they are from Dinka, so this is the problem I know,” he added.
Malual, who is also the rapporteur of the national dialogue committee in South Sudan, stressed that the two countries need to find a solution to the issue of Abyei.
Reacting to the news, Bulabek Deng Kuol, Paramount Chief of the Ngok Dinka tribe, downplayed the statement made by Bona Malual in Khartoum.
He reaffirmed that the people of Ngok Dinka are part of South Sudan.” As Ngok Dinka, we are South Sudanese whether culturally or anything else. It does not need explanation for me to prove that the people of Ngok Dinka are South Sudanese,” he said.
“There is no land without people. The area of Abyei is our land as Ngok Dinka. I admit that we were part of Kordofan administratively in the past, but the land remains part of South Sudan,” he added.
Sudan and South Sudan are disputing the oil-rich Abyei, an area inhabited by Sudan's Arab Misseryia tribe and South Sudan's Ngok Dinka tribe.
In October 2013, the Ngok Dinka tribe conducted a unilateral popular referendum, in which the vast majority of people voted to join South Sudan. However, neither Sudan nor South Sudan recognized the plebiscite so far.