The Head of Abyei Region Supervisory Committee, Major General Engineer Muhammad Alawi Koko on Friday proposed that all the institutions of the comprehensive administration of the Abyei region be transferred to Al-Fulah, the capital city of Sudan’s West Kordofan State.
The decision was reached at a joint meeting between the State Security Committee and the Head and Administrations of Abyei Region Supervisory.
The meeting, according Sudan’s official news agency (SUNA) was chaired by West Kordofan State’s Deputy Governor, Adam Karshum Nour-Eddin.
The proposed move, officials said, will pave way for deliberations and consultations with stakeholders on their issues, in addition to enabling the different administrations to be close to existing problems and find remedies.
During the meeting, Maj. Gen. Alawi said the Abyei region has been suffering from a large administrative and security vacuum, adding that the existence of the supervisory body contributes to the filling of that vacuum.
For his part, the Deputy Governor of West Kordofan praised the decision to transfer the supervisory with its entire institutions to Abyei area to be close to citizens and stand on their services and all security and societal issues.
He, however, said close attention be paid to water problems and education issues, one of the challenges of shepherds in the region, pointing to the great educational loss that further fueled conflicts in the region.
According to Nour-Eddin, the problem of unemployment be a priority and the creation of job opportunities for youth to curb the phenomenon of gun holding, which is considered one of the security threats to the local communities, urging setting of a mechanism for peaceful coexistence and making unity attractive between Misseriya and Ngok Dinka tribes.
Abyei, a contested oil producing region, is an area of 10,546 km² on the border between South Sudan and the Sudan that has been accorded “special administrative status” by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese civil war.
Source: Sudan Tribune