A delegation of the Sudan National Consensus Forces (NCF), an allied group of Sudan’s opposition parties, met with prominent Misseriya community leaders in Khartoum on Tuesday to discuss issues that are obstructing and exacerbating the crisis in Abyei, the disputed oil-rich region between South Sudan and Sudan.

The NCF delegation included its leader, Farouk Abu-Issa, and other parties’ representatives, while the Misseriya delegation included the tribal leader Mahdi Babo Nimr and the former Sudan defence minister, Maj Gen (retd) Fadlallah Burma Nasir.

Speaking to the press in Khartoum, the head of the NCF delegation stressed the need to deal seriously with Abyei in order to identify visions and goals in the interests of a peaceful coexistence between the Misseriya and Dinka Ngok communities. He announced the creation of a crisis committee which has been charged with holding joint meetings with the groups.

The Ngok Dinka citizens reiterated their determination to conduct a referendum over the region in October in accordance with the mediating African Union’s proposal.

At a ceremony held yesterday in commemoration of the establishment of the SPLA as well as remembrance of the Abyei martyrs of May, 2011, the regional Minister of Finance and Physical Infrastructure, Achuil Akol, told Radio Tamazuj: “We view the referendum as legitimate right. The Ngok Dinka people are determined that it be held according to similar models of referenda as have occurred in the rest of the world”, he pledged.

He further called upon the international community intervene and constitute an Abyei referendum commission to ensure that the plebiscite can be held on schedule.

File photo: Farouk Abu-Issa, leader of the NCF