The co-chairs of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC) have resolved to convene a meeting of traditional leaders of the Dinka Ngok and Misseriya Arab tribes scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa at the end of April.

The high-level meeting between the two communities would be the first of its kind between the two communities since the slaying of Paramount Chief Kuol Deng Kuol in May 2013. Dinka Ngok leaders have previously demanded his killers be brought to justice before any inter-communal talks resume.

Yesterday a representative of Sudan from the Misseriya Arab tribe and of South Sudan from the Dinka Ngok tribe – the two AJOC co-chairs – signed a resolution at the Radisson Blue Hotel in Addis Ababa agreeing to “convene a traditional leaders meeting/dialogue.”

“In light of the urgent need to involve the Ngok Dinka and Messeriya communities in addressing their common concerns, AJOC will commence preparations towards the speedy convening of a meeting/dialogue within the last week of April 2015, in Addis Ababa under the facilitation of AJOC, the AU and the UN,” reads the document.

This comes as the outcome of a meeting of the AJOC from 29-30 March facilitated by an African Union official, Boitshoko Mokgatlhe. Head of the UN peacekeeping force in Abyei Haile Tilahun Gebremariam was also present at the meeting as well as UNISFA Force Commander Lt. Gen. Birhanu J. Gelalcha.

In his remarks at the opening on Tuesday, Sudan's co-chair Hassan Ali Aljulla stressed the importance of reviving the AJOC mechanism with a view toward establishing institutions in Abyei according to a 2011 deal on temporary administration and security arrangements for the area.

But in the view of the Southern co-chair Mading Deng Kwol the institutions are already de facto established and part of South Sudan, according to the Ngok Dinka community referendum held in October 2013.

Hassan pointed out that neither Sudan nor South Sudan recognized the legitimacy of the 'unilateral' community referendum.

Mading thanked the UN peacekeepers saying that the deployment of Ethiopian peacekeepers in Abyei was the single most significant positive development in the area in decades.

Both AJOC co-chairs agreed to condemn all recent incidents of attacks in the Abyei Area, “inter alia, the recent attacks on Marial Achak, and Diffra [Kech] oil fields.”

The next meeting of the Abyei Joint Committee will be after the traditional leaders' dialogue, according to the resolutions.

Photo: AJOC Co-Chairs Hassan Ali Nimir and Mading Deng (AU)