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STORY: SOUTH SUDAN / ABYEI DEMONSTRATION
TRT: 2:46
SOURCE: UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ARABIC/NTS
DATELINE: 20 SEPTEMBER 2013, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, Abyei demonstrators marching
2. Med shot, demonstrators holding posters
3. Wide shot, lineup of mini buses full of people
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Atem Simon Mabior, Organizer:
“We are here today as south Sudanese as political parties as civil society organization asking for the immediate and full implementation of Abyei referendum.”
5. Wide shot, demonstrators marching and holding posters
6. Med shot, people marching waving South Sudan flags
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Atem Simon Mabior – Organizer:
“There will be sideline meetings of the African Union Security Council and the UN Security Council we ask them to endorse the African Union proposal which was proposed by former president Thabo Mbeki to be lay as the final status and final solution for the issue of Abyei referendum in the coming UN General Assembly or the coming UN summit.”
8. Med shot, mini buses full of people
9. Med shot, Abyei Ladies on top of Mini Bus singing
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Roseline John:
“Abyei is one hundred percent south Sudanese, What Sudan is doing is not acceptable. They are obstructing everything and if they continue they will perish.”
11. Wide shot, lineup of motorbikes riders holding flags
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Moses Peter, demonstrator:
“I am here because of Abyei referendum, as citizens of South Sudan we believe Abyei belong to South Sudan. And I am expecting from the government of Sudan to keep the time for referendum, as young people we are ready to go up to Abyei using our motorcycles. Abyei belongs to South Sudan.”
13. Wide shot, demonstrators marching towards UNMISS waving flags
14. Med shot, Anthony Nwapa Deputy State Coordinator for Central Equatoria receiving the petition
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Nwapa Deputy State Coordinator for Central Equatoria:
“I assure you that we are going to present this paper to appropriate quarter not just the UN special representative but this should be channel also to the appropriate quarters in New York that is the office of the secretary general of the United Nations.”
16. Wide shot, demonstrators going back from UNMISS compound
Thousands of Abyei residents along with political parties and civil societies living in Juba held a peaceful demonstration today (20 Sept) demanding that the United Nations (UN) Security Council endorse an African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHLIP) proposal to hold the Abyei referendum in October 2013.
SOUNDBITE (English) Atem Simon Mabior, Organizer:
“We are here today as south Sudanese, as political parties, as civil society organizations, asking for the immediate and full implementation of Abyei referendum.”
Demonstrators called on the international community to form an Abyei Referendum Commission and asked for a fixed date be set for the referendum, for security to be arranged in the area and for an immediate withdrawal of Sudan Armed forces from some parts of Abyei.
They also said there was a need to reinforce the UN peacekeepers in Abyei.
SOUNDBITE (English) Atem Simon Mabior, Organizer:
“There will be sideline meetings of the African Union Security Council and the UN Security Council. We ask them to endorse the African Union proposal which was proposed by former president Thabo Mbeki to lay as the final status and final solution for the issue of Abyei referendum in the coming UN General Assembly or the coming UN summit.”
The referendum of the oil rich Abyei area was originally scheduled for 2011, simultaneously with that of southern Sudan, in which the residents of Abyei were to decide either to be part of Sudan or South Sudan.
On 24 October 2012, the African Union proposed a referendum in October 2013 for Abyei, in accordance with the endorsement from the African Union Peace and Security Council following a mediation team led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki that included the exclusion of the Messirya. Sudan rejected the offer saying it was sovereign over the region and that this action would threaten the conflict resolution process.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Roseline John:
“Abyei is 100 percent south Sudanese, What Sudan is doing is not acceptable. They are obstructing everything and if they continue they will perish.”
Moses Peter says that Abyei belongs to South Sudan.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Moses Peter, demonstrator:
“I am here because of Abyei referendum, as citizens of South Sudan we believe Abyei belong to South Sudan. And I am expecting from the government of Sudan to keep the time for referendum, as young people we are ready to go up to Abyei using our motorcycles. Abyei belongs to South Sudan.”
The demonstrators handed a signed petition to the US embassy, European Union, African Union and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.
Anthony Nwapa, UNMISS - Deputy State Coordinator for Central Equatoria assured the demonstrators that the petition will be channeled to the office of the Secretary General.
SOUNDBITE (English) Anthony Nwapa Deputy State Coordinator for Central Equatoria:
“I assure you that we are going to present this paper to appropriate quarter not just the UN special representative but this should be channel also to the appropriate quarters in New York that is the office of the Secretary General of the United Nation”
The deadlock on the Abyei referendum is due to lack of agreement between Sudan and South Sudan and who constitutes as a "resident of Abyei". The question has been on whether to include the Messirya tribe from the Sudan, who have historically stayed in the region every year for six months.
