JUBA - 3 Nov 2012

‘Mile 14’ hardliners back down

Dinka Malual leaders opposed to the decision to withdraw troops from Mile 14 area expressed ‘satisfaction’ after an appearance by the Northern Bahr El Ghazal governor at a community event on Thursday. The issue remains fiercely contentious but the apparent conciliation will allow the governor to maintain for now a foothold with both the community and the president.

Members of the community living in the national capital Juba gathered at Nyakuron Cultural Centre to discuss how to secure the ‘Mile 14’ area in light of South Sudan’s recent treaty with Sudan. The meeting lasted more than five hours and was attended by MPs, national and state ministers and officials, ex-governors, the incumbent governor, students and youth.

‘Mile 14,’ also known as Samaha, is a 14-mile wide strip of grassland south of the River Kiir/Bahr El Arab at the northern frontier of the Bahr El Ghazal region. The area appears on maps as part of Darfur, owing to a 1924 decision by colonial officials that the Rizeigat Arab dar (homeland) should extend 14 miles south of the river to allow the nomads safe access to grazing lands there. But the Dinka hardliners reject this decision and favor occupying the area with the SPLA 3^rd Division up to the river.

The army, however, must withdraw in order to comply with the Addis Ababa deal of last September. The deal refers to ‘special arrangements’ for the Mile 14 area in deference to Rizeigat demands, including a somewhat wider buffer zone and a reaffirmation of tribal arrangements that guarantee the nomads access to the area.

Dinka Malual community members in Juba protested this concession on the day the parliament voted to ratify the treaty. The issue got so heated that President Salva Kiir touched on it directly during an extraordinary address to his officers 16 October at SPLA General Headquarters.

Tensions lower

The general mood in the meeting hall on Thursday seemed less tense. Among the elders who spoke were Kawach Makuei, the first governor of Greater Bahr El Ghazal, and Abdel Bagi Ayii, the former presidential advisor on religious affairs. Both elders expressed satisfaction with the gathering and praised the crowd for their attendance. They gave their support on the subject and advised the people including the governor to follow legal process.

But there were still reservations. Governor Paul Malong was attacked by many who demanded that he clarify his position on the issue in the wake of rumors and conflicting media reports, including suggestions that he had betrayed the community, or, conversely, opposed the president.

The governor denied flip-flopping on the issue: “What I said in four interviews, of which one was at the airport, two in the studio, three at home and four in the garden is all the same thing. I do not say different things to different media, it is all one thing what I say.”

He asserted that he has ‘no doubt’ in either the president or in the country’s diplomats. He noted though that he had left the Addis talks before the agreement was signed: “This one thing which I say is that I was asked upon my return from Addis Abba what had happened. I replied that what had happened will be told by those [negotiators] who are left behind [in Addis Ababa] and it is not me to explain. What I knew was that something would be signed after I had left and if they do so they will come inform people. That is what I said.”

“The other thing I said about Mile 14 is that I do not have doubt in the president because he was the one fighting and was part of the negotiations, and has led us to where we are now so I do not have doubt in him. I do not have doubt in the (negotiating) team because they were the ones fighting,” he added.

Continuing reservations

Also speaking on Thursday, members of parliament representing different constituencies of the state reiterated that they 'stood with the will of the people' since day one and 'made history' in the parliament in rejecting the Mile 14 clause along with the rest of the Cooperation Agreements.

Out of about 400 members in the national parliament, only 17 MPs voted against ratification of the Cooperation Agreement. The Northern Bahr El Ghazal MPs who opposed the ‘Mile 14’ clause were supported by a few other MPs from Unity state (Dinka Panaru), Warrap state (Twic East), and Central Equatoria state.

Several of these MPs spoke Thursday evening including Kwai Mayiom from Warrap state. He stated that the MPs did the right thing in voting against the deal. He said the other MPs had failed to persuade them that the cooperation agreement would benefit South Sudan.

“Someone who says ‘go out of Mile 14’ is someone we will reply to,” remarked another elder, Abdel Bagi Ayii. “The second thing is that we will ask Rizeigat when they come whether they need water and grazing or land. If they say they need land we shall tell them to return to the other side of Kiir River. So, youngsters, I am happy.”

Next moves

Radio Tamazuj has been unable to verify whether South Sudanese troops have yet withdrawn from the Mile 14 area. But according to the security agreement the move is overdue.

The final demarcation of the border, on the other hand, is not expected any time soon, according to Rosalind Marsden, one of the international mediators who was involved in the Addis negotiations. “There is still no agreement on a process for resolving the issue of the disputed and claimed border areas,” she told Radio Tamazuj.

Marsden, who visited Bahr El Ghazal last month to try to persuade leaders to accept the withdrawal, explained that the “buffer zone is a temporary arrangement. It shouldn’t be confused with the determination of a final border between Sudan and South Sudan. There will be a separate process to decide that, and the current arrangements for the buffer zone will not prejudice at all the final outcome of the disputed and claimed areas.”

Photo: The area shown in green is disputed by Northern Bahr El Ghazal state and East Darfur state.