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STORY: UN / ABYEI
TRT: 03:44
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 27 OCTOBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
27 OCTOBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, United Nations:
“While progress has yet to materialize in the form of improvements in the lives and rights of the people of Abyei, there have been significant steps towards dialogue in the context of continued improvement in the relationship between the Sudan and South Sudan.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, United Nations:
“The year 2022 has seen a new conflict emerging between the Ngok Dinka and Twic Dinka communities in southern Abyei. Since the outbreak of clashes in February, much of the inter-communal violence witnessed in Abyei has been related to this conflict, with loss of life on both sides and the displacement of thousands of civilians.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, United Nations:
“We are particularly concerned that amid the tensions between the Ngok Dinka and Twic Dinka communities, there have been attacks and threats against UNISFA peacekeepers, staff, and contractors. A total of seven attacks on peacekeepers were recorded during the reporting period.”
8. Wide shot, Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, United Nations:
“The humanitarian community continued to assist the 250,000 vulnerable people in central and southern Abyei, including people displaced by intercommunal clashes. Significant flooding took place in late August in a large part of the Abyei area, affecting some 91,000 people.”
10. Wide shot, Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union:
“Progress in improving bilateral relations between Sudan and South Sudan has been positive, and we believe that it will have a stabilizing effect on the disputes between the two Countries. Yet, renewed commitment regarding the implementation of transitional arrangements and the dispute resolution over Abyei's final status cannot be set apart from the fragile internal situations in both countries.”
12. Wide shot, Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Akuei Bona Malwal, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, South Sudan:
“Encouraged by this new atmosphere of positive engagement between the two sisterly countries, my delegation would like to take this opportunity and call on this council, the African Union, and the wider international community to play their fundamental role in giving support and encouragement to the leadership of the two countries to maintain this spirit of engagement until they reach a mutually acceptable agreement on the final status of Abyei.”
14. Med shot, Pobee, Mohammed
15. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Sudan:
“We cannot achieve a settlement of the Abyei issued without an agreement between the two states that will be deemed acceptable by the stakeholders and society of the two countries. Sudan is expressing concerns regarding the maintenance of peace and stability in Abyei, and we’re concerned by incidents that have occurred in the region.”
16. Wide shot, Council
The UN senior official for Africa, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, said that while progress has yet to materialize in the lives and rights of the people of Abyei, there have been significant steps towards dialogue, in the context of a continued improvement in the relationship between Sudan and South Sudan.
Briefing the Security Council today (27 Oct) on the situation in Abyei, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, said that while the security situation in the Abyei Administrative Area mainly remained calm, there has been some shift in the conflict dynamics seen in previous years.
Despite the continued trust deficit between the Misseriya and Ngok Dinka communities, inter-communal violence between the two declined somewhat during 2022.
She continued, “The year 2022 has seen a new conflict emerging between the Ngok Dinka and Twic Dinka communities in southern Abyei. Since the outbreak of clashes in February, much of the inter-communal violence witnessed in Abyei has been related to this conflict, with loss of life on both sides and the displacement of thousands of civilians.”
Despite mobility challenges due to flooding during the rainy season, the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has responded to these clashes by intensifying patrols to deter further violence, offering protection to those displaced, and providing medical services to the wounded.
Pobee noted that clashes resumed in late September and October after a lull in the violence during the rainy season.
She added that this worrying development could foreshadow further violence during the upcoming dry season as conditions improve for mobility.
In this regard, UNISFA, in coordination with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), has maintained close contact with the Government of South Sudan to support mediation efforts and plans for a government-facilitated peace conference to be held in South Sudan.
The Assistant Secretary-General for Africa said, “We are particularly concerned that amid the tensions between the Ngok Dinka and Twic Dinka communities, there have been attacks and threats against UNISFA peacekeepers, staff, and contractors. A total of seven attacks on peacekeepers were recorded during the reporting period.”
She informed the Council that the humanitarian community continued to assist the 250,000 vulnerable people in central and southern Abyei, including people displaced by intercommunal clashes.
She added, “Significant flooding took place in late August in a large part of the Abyei area, affecting some 91,000 people.”
UNISFA supported the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other partners in delivering humanitarian assistance by air to some of those who remained cut off by roads.
Also addressing the Security Council today, Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union, said that progress in improving bilateral relations between Sudan and South Sudan has been positive, “and we believe that it will have a stabilizing effect on the disputes between the two Countries.”
Yet, she added, “renewed commitment regarding the implementation of transitional arrangements and the dispute resolution over Abyei's final status cannot be set apart from the fragile internal situations in both countries.”
Akuei Bona Malwal, Permanent Representative of South Sudan to the United Nations, said, “Encouraged by this new atmosphere of positive engagement between the two sisterly countries, my delegation would like to take this opportunity and call on this council, the African Union, and the wider international community to play their fundamental role in giving support and encouragement to the leadership of the two countries to maintain this spirit of engagement until they reach a mutually acceptable agreement on the final status of Abyei.”
Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations, said, “We cannot achieve a settlement of the Abyei issued without an agreement between the two states that will be deemed acceptable by the stakeholders and society of the two countries. Sudan is expressing concerns regarding the maintenance of peace and stability in Abyei, and we’re concerned by incidents that have occurred in the region.”
