Inhabitants of Abyei took to the streets on Monday to condemn the annexation of their area to Sudan’s West Kordofan State, which is controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and slammed the Government of Sudan over its rejection of the newly established geographical constituencies in the Abyei Special Administrative Area by the South Sudan National Elections Commission (NEC) as the country prepares for elections in December.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Thursday, Bulabek Deng Kuot, the Paramount Chief of Ngok Dinka of Abyei, said their demonstration was against claims by the Misseriya Peace Committee that Abyei had become their administrative unit.
“We have come out to conduct protests as civil society organizations, chiefs, youth, women and all sections of Ngok Dinka to condemn the announcement from one of the Misseriya Peace Committee leaders that the Abyei Administrative Area is their administrative unit,” he said. “This is a political agenda because we know that there is only one administration in Abyei under the Government of South Sudan.”
The chief condemned Sudan’s rejection of the establishment of election constituencies in the Abyei Special Administrative Area by the NEC as South Sudan prepares for polls.
“The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also issued a statement rejecting the creation of electoral constituencies in Abyei Administrative Area on the excuse that it breaches the past agreements between the two countries, but the Government of Sudan has not been providing any services to the Ngok Dinka since 2011 because the area is under the administration of South Sudan,” Bulabek stated.
Chol Lual, a resident in Abyei, criticized the Sudanese government’s decision to deny the people of the area the opportunity to participate in South Sudan’s first elections since independence.
“Sudan has not been offering services to us since 2011; we receive all the services from the Government of South Sudan in terms of employees’ wages and developmental services,” he said. “Why are they stopping us from participating in the upcoming elections in South Sudan?”
Meanwhile, Rose Monytoch, chairperson of the civil society network in the Abyei Special Administrative Area, said all Ngok Dinka in Abyei are South Sudanese and that they have the right to take part in the elections.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan has stated its rejection of the Abyei People’s participation in the general elections scheduled for 22 December 2026,” she stated. “We are all opposing that because we are all South Sudanese and we enjoy our privileges from the Government of South Sudan.”
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