African Affairs Advance Access originally published online on December 24, 2007
African Affairs 2008 107(426):1-19; doi:10.1093/afraf/adm070
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Why Abyei Matters
The Breaking Point of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement?
The Abyei Area, straddling the North–South border of Sudan, was the subject of a separate protocol in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between the Sudan government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in January 2005. One provision of that protocol was the establishment of a boundaries commission to define the territory to be included in the special administration of the area. The commission's decision was to be implemented ‘with immediate effect’ on the submission of its report in July 2005, but implementation has been blocked by the National Congress Party, which still controls the central government in Sudan. The conduct of war in Abyei established many precedents for the conduct of war in Darfur in the use of tribal militias and the forcible displacement of non-Arab peoples. The failure to implement the Abyei Protocol has implications not only for determining the North–South border (as stipulated by the CPA), but for the implementation of any Darfur peace agreement.
Douglas H. Johnson (douglas{at}wendoug.free-online.co.uk) was a resource person at the first session of negotiations on the Three Areas at Karen, Kenya, in January 2003 and subsequently served as an international expert on the Abyei Boundaries Commission. He has recently advised the Government of South Sudan on the North–South boundary issue.