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By SRS
Posted to the web on October 12, 2010 |
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October 12, 2010 (Khartoum) – The Abyei talks between the SPLM and the NCP in Addis Ababa have reached a deadlock.
The head of the SPLM negotiation team, Pagan Amum told the press in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, that the current round of talks had failed.
According to media reports, all the proposals and suggestions made by the US special envoy, Scott Gration, who is facilitating the talks, were rejected by both parties.
One of the contentious issues being discussed is the eligibility of voters in the Abyei referendum scheduled for January 2011.
A NCP senior member Doctor Rabie Abdullaati spoke to SRS from Khartoum on Tuesday.
[Rabie Abdullaati]: “The issue cannot be mandated to any other party, only the two parties the SPLM and the NCP should commit to the provisions of the agreement. From its side, the NCP has committed that the Dinka Ng’ok community will vote in the upcoming referendum, so the SPLM as well should be committed to the provisions that all residents of Abyei have the right to vote in the Abyei referendum without any exclusion to any tribe. Any talks out of these definite provisions in Addis will not be workable with us at all.”
A Sudanese political analyst, Taj el-Sir Meki, is skeptical that the NCP and the SPLM will reach a reasonable solution to the contention owing to their rigid stances.
Meki spoke to SRS from Khartoum on Tuesday.
[Taj el-Sir Meki]: “It seems that the problem of Abyei is extremely complicated and that it is the main issue regarding the SPLM stance on the southern Sudan and Abyei referenda. The government is insisting that Misseriya in Abyei have the right to vote in the Abyei referendum. Gration suggested that anyone who has been residing in Abyei for eight months to one year is a resident of Abyei, a condition which might not apply to most of Misseriyas who are insisting on voting in the referendum. Still there are on-going efforts to determine the eligible voters in the Abyei referendum. I don’t think they will reach a reasonable result.”
The SPLM says that according to the Abyei Protocol only the Nine Dinka Ng’ok Chiefdoms are eligible to vote in the Abyei Referendum while the NCP insists that all the residents, including the Misseriya, have rights to vote.
The Abyei referendum is supposed to take place simultaneously with the Southern Sudan referendum in January 2011.
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