Sudan’s Co-Chair of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC), Al-Khair al-Fahim invited his South Sudanese counterpart, Edward Lino, to visit to Khartoum and Abyei without international mediators.

Al-Fahim said in a press statement that Lino’s visit would contribute to a convergence of interests in the region and between the two countries.

In the meantime Al-Fahim welcomed Lino’s appointment as South Sudan’s co-Chair as a leader with influence and popularity within both the Dinka and Misseriya communities. 

However, the Misseriya tribe have criticised the appointment of Lino by president Salva Kiir Mayardit, following Luka Biong’s resignation earlier this year, claiming tha the move would not increase the region’s stability.

They accused Lino of being behind clashes which took place in Abyei in May 2008 between South Sudan’s ruling SPLA and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

“Lino set Abyei on fire in 2008 and we are expecting him to burn it again,” a prominent Misseriya leader, Babo Namir, claimed during the press statement before denying that Lino is a member of the Dinka Ngok community.

The future status of Abyei was supposed to be decided in a 2011 referendum, held alongside South Sudan’s referendum on independence.  However, political insecurity and disagreement over the conditions of the referendum resulted in its postponement.  The African Union’s mediating body have expressed support for the referendum to go ahead once more but disputes over the voting rights of the nomadic Misseriya have continued to be a ‘sticking point’.

Photo: Al-Khair al-Fahim (Sudan News Agency)