The paramount chief of the Ngok Dinka people in the disputed Abyei area which straddles the border of South Sudan and Sudan on Friday called for the trial or release of Abyei local government officials and officers of the SSPDF who were detained for allegedly fueling the Twic-Ngok conflict.
Paramount Chief Bulabek Deng Kuol urged the national government to expedite the trial of the officials or release them because holding them without being arraigned in court is unjust.
In February, President Salva Kiir formed a committee headed by Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi Akol to investigate the cause of the violence between armed youth from the Ngok Dinka of Abyei and Twic communities.
The committee, in May, recommended the detention of among others, Mayot Kuinit, the Abyei minister of physical infrastructure, Chol Puor, the commissioner of Rumamer County in Abyeu, Akuei Akoon, the commissioner of Abyei’s Alal County, in Abyei, the Aneet area administrator, and three SSPDF soldiers.
“The national Twic-Ngok investigative committee came and people signed the resolutions although Twic armed youth violated it and attacked Abyei. The purpose (of the committee) was to solve the problem but the officials have just been detained and no legal procedures have been instituted for justice or to release them,” Paramount Chief Deng said, and asked. “What charges have been brought against them?”
He said the youth of Abyei did not organize any attacks but only fought in self-defense.
“We have been waiting for the president to respond because it is an injustice to detain people and not take them to court,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ajang Deng Miyen, the Abyei information minister, said the security situation is calm and that the SSPDF had taken over the security of the Twic-Abyei road.
He said he does not why the local officials had been detained for so long yet the people of Abyei have demanded their release.
“The security is fine. The SSPDF took control of the Abyei-Twic road,” he said. “We do not know what happened to the release of the detained people. Maybe the national committee members know why they detained them for so long.”