Photo: Tim McKulka/UN Photo Juba — South Sudan on Tuesday expressed strong disappointment with the proposal by the African Union High Level Implementation (AUHIP) calling to extend negotiations over the remaining unresolved issues for six weeks.
The mediation said such extension allows the two parties to reach a voluntary consensus on the final status of the contested region of Abyei.
The mediating team will present comprehensive reports with recommendations on all outstanding issues to the African Union Peace and Security Council which will meet on Wednesday 24 October, for endorsement as final and binding decisions on both sides, before to refer it to the U.N. Security Coucil.
However, officials from South Sudan's governing Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) currently in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, said they were surprised by the proposal to resume negotiation on Abyei, a month after the parties to the conflict have failed to reach a consensus.
"We received last night the report that will be presented by AUHIP to the AUPSC on 24 October. It includes a number of suggestions about the final status of Abyei. The AUHIP is asking for the extension of six weeks for parties to continue negotiating the final status of Abyei," Luka Biong Deng, a co-chair of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC) told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday from Addis Ababa.
"This position is not consistent with the AU Roadmap and the UN Resolution 2046," he further said.
Deng explained that the chief mediator, Thabo Mbeki, had suggested the immediate implementation of the outstanding elements of the 20 June 2011 Agreement on Temporary Arrangements as one of the first requirements for a complete implementation.
"We propose that at its meeting to consider this and other reports of the AUHIP on the outstanding matters, the AUPSC should decide and immediately communicate the message to the Governments of South Sudan and Sudan that they should, no later than two weeks after the AUPSC meeting, implement the entire of the Agreement on Temporary Agreements, especially the establishment of the Abyei Area Administration and the Abyei Area Council", an extract of the Mbeki's report reads in part.
South Sudanese government is not willing to implement this part of the temporary arrangements because Khartoum refuses to appoint a Ngok Dinka for the position of speaker to Abyei Legislative Council. Juba says Khartoum had accepted to do so before to sign the deal.
The senior government official further quoted reports as suggesting that Abyei Area Referendum Commission (AARC) should be established six weeks after the signing of the Agreement on the final status of Abyei.
"We propose that the AUPSC should decide and communicate this immediately to the Governments of Sudan and South Sudan that they should engage each other to resolve all outstanding matters relating to the determination of the Final Status of Abyei, and report the outcomes of this engagement to the AUPSC, through the AUHIP, not later than six weeks after the meeting of the AUPSC," he stressed.
The mediating team also suggested that AUPSC takes the decision to inform the governments of South Sudan and Sudan of the message to immediately reach a consensus on the outstanding issues relating to the final status of Abyei.
Deng said the mediation did not observe the terms of its mandate as defined in the UN Security Council through its resolution 2046.
"The resolution gave the panel a clear mandate. It mandates the panel to make recommendations in the event that the two parties have failed to agree."
"So why should the panel extend the negotiations after they have made a proposal? The AUHIP should just present the proposal that was presented to Salva [South Sudan president Kiir] and Bashir [Sudan president] on 21 September 2012," Deng further argued.
Khartoum, which rejected the AUHIP 21 September proposal during the 23-25 September summit, says it is in favour of a previous resolution leading to the partition of the disputed area between the two countries.
Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, the two parties failed to agree on the participation of the Misseriya pastoralists who spend several months every year.
The mediation in its September's proposal suggested to allow only Misseriya who reside permanently there, a suggestion that matches with the position of the South Sudanese government.
Luka Biong, sought to mobilise regional and international support to the latest preposition of the African mediation. Two days ago he was in Pretoria where he met South African officials over the issues.
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TODAY WE STILL SIGHT LARGE BLACK POULATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN LIVING IN THE DESERTS FROM AS LONG AS THE DESERT HAS BECOME DESERTIFIED'. THEY HAVE ACCCESSED WATER FOOD THE SAME WAY THEY DO TODAY THEY HAVE ROAMED THE LANDS THAT WE KNOW TODAY AS AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST WHICH WAS NOT CALLED THE MID EAST UNTIL THE LAST TWO MILLINIUMS, WHEN IN 1895 THEY FRAGMENTED AFRICA AND SEPERATED WHAT WE KNOW TODAY AS THE MID EAST CONTRARY TO WHAT IS BEING ESPOUSED!!!; WE WERE ALL ONE RACE ONE PEOPLE' UNTIL THE TIMES OF THE MACEDONIANS THE ROMANS THE TURKS AND THEN THE CRUSADES THE AND THE COLONISATION OF THE ENTIRE REGION BY NATO AS THEY CALL THEMSELVES TO DAY". "AFRICA IS AFRICA FROM DOHA TO ABDIJAN WE ARE ALL ONE PEOPLE" . "NO MATTER THE SKIN TONE WE ARE ALL FROM THE SAME LOINS OF THE ADAAMITES WHO WERE THE FIRST CREATED"." WE MUST NOT LOSE FAITH AND WE MUST PRSERVE OUR HISTORIES AND OUR CULTURES OF GREAT WIZE KINGS OF GREAT CIVILIZATIONS". "THE IMPORTANTS OF TODAY IS THE DESPERATION OF THOSE WHO ARE CLAINMNG THE RIGHTS TO OUR INHERRITANCE'" THEY WANT TO UNDERMINE US THEY WANT TO CREATE DISTABILISATION SO THEY CAN MANIPULATE AND KEEP OUR INTENTIONS OF DEVELOPMENT UNSUCCESSFUL; DOOMED TO FAILURE . "THEY WITNESS THAT THE "ALLMIGHTY GOD" HAS SENT HIS ANGELS FORWARD WITH A GUIDNG HAND TO DELIVER US FROM THIER CLUTCHES"." WE DO NOT HAVE TO WAR AMONGST ORUSELVES' ' THAT IS THE DEVILS PLAN!!!!. "NO MATTER WHAT ILL WILL WE HAD BEFORE '"WE KNOW TODAY THAT THEY WERE MISGUIDED AND THAT WE SHOULD LIVE LOVING AS BIG BIG MAN" STAND TRUE TO OUR WORDS' SHOW INTEGRIT" ; 'WITHOUT BACKSLIDING AS IF WE WERE THE DEVILS CHILDREN. BY NATURE OF BIRTH WE WERE NOT BORN LIARS" "SO WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIE! "THE NOBILITY THAT RUNS THRU OUR VEINS MAKES US THE MOST RIGHTEOUSS OF THE EARTH". WHAT DOES LIE BEGET ? IT BEGETS MORE LIES !! THEN CHAOS AND CONFUSION ENSUES THIS IS NOT OUR WAYS. WE MUST ATKE TIME OUT TO LOOK AT THSA ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OUYR FORE FATHERS FROM ALL AFRICA WE SIGHT THE GREAT PYRAMIDS THE GREAT CITIES THAT EXIST IN SUDNA THAT ARE UNDER WATER THESE WERE THE FIRTS CIVILZED CITIES UNDER THE SUN WE MUST KEEP THIS IN MIND THEY GO WAY FORWARD INTO HISTORY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO!!!!!!!. WE MUST STOP LISTENING TO THE FOOLISHNES OF LIARS AND MISREPRESENTERS ,THOSE WHO HAVE AN AGENDA TO LIE ,THOSE THAT WANTS TO TAKE OUR POSSESSIONS. THEY HAVE MANIPULATED THE MID EAST OUT OF AFRICA JUST AS TO AUTHENTICISE THIER ENSLAVEMENT OF AFGRICA ; IN THIER SMALL MINDS THE "HOLY LAND " COULD NEVER BE PART OF AFRICA THIS WOULD SHOW THE TRUTH!!! TRUTH IS SMOETHING THEY ARE FARAID OF!!! WE MUST NOT LET THEM WIN! SUDAN IS WHERE THE CRACK OF DAWN BEGAN WE MUST RETAIN THE GREAT ;EGACIES OF SUDAN THE TURK WER WHOM SATRTED THE RACE BAITING WITH SLAVERY OF THE DARKER AFRICANS WHO WOULD NTO SUBMIT TO THEM THE BRITISH CONTINUED THE SAME PROGRAM OF ENSALVERY AN RACE POLICIES ALONG WITH ALL NATO AND THE JEWS AS WE SIGHT THEM TODAY THESE ARE TRUE FACTS THAT CAN BE FOUND IN ALL HISTORY.. IS AY TO ALL MY GOD; FREARING BROTHERS IN THE GREAT TRADITON OF EID" WE MUST COME TOGETEHER AND MAKE THE PROGRESS THAT WAS MADE IN ONE WEEK. "IT TAKES ONLY A MINUTE TO REALISE THAT THE LOVE WE SHARE IS MUTUAL AND THAT WHATEVER IS SAID AT THE END OF THE DAY REGARDLES OF PERSONALITIES WE ARE ALL ONE BLOOD" " PEACE LOVE UNITY BLESSINGS BE UPON ALL OF SUDAN AND ALL OF AFRICAINCLUSIVE OF THE MIDEAST ALL AFRICA PEACE AND LOVE"