The Abyei Area Administration has declared Friday, October 31, a public holiday to commemorate the 12th anniversary of a unilateral self-determination referendum, a vote that remains central to the region’s unresolved political status.
Information Minister Yohana Akol Ngor announced the decision on Thursday, saying the holiday will apply to all government institutions, private businesses, UN agencies, and international and local organizations.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Minister Akol said the break will allow residents and public servants to take part in anniversary celebrations.
Akol said festivities will begin with a football match and musical performances. He added that the administration will officially open a new land port in the area.
The Abyei region, which straddles the disputed border between Sudan and South Sudan, has been contested since the South’s independence in 2011.
Under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudan’s decades-long civil war, a referendum was to be held to decide whether Abyei would join Sudan or South Sudan. But disputes over voter eligibility and recurring violence have delayed the process indefinitely.
In October 2013, the Ngok Dinka community held a unilateral “popular referendum” in which nearly all participants voted to join South Sudan. The vote, however, was conducted without the participation or endorsement of either Khartoum or Juba, and was not recognized by either government or the international community.
Minister Akol said this year’s celebrations are being organized by Abyei civil society groups and that all preparations have been finalized.
The minister also raised concerns about a surge in illegal weapons in the market area and said authorities have yet to identify the perpetrators of recent attacks.
He also pointed to the impact of Sudan’s ongoing war, saying Abyei has received a “very large number” of refugees fleeing fighting in southern parts of Sudan.
Despite the challenges, Akol said residents remain optimistic following President Salva Kiir’s recent reactivation of the Abyei Oversight Committee, a body tasked with addressing the area’s status. He expressed hope that the national government in Juba will eventually recognize the outcome of the 2013 vote.