South Sudan: Misseriya tribe announces counter-vote in Abyei

Source: Miraya FM

The Misseriya tribe has announced on Tuesday it will hold a counter-referendum in November to determine the fate of Abyei area.

The announcement came as the Ngok Dinka community in Abyei start counting votes for a referendum they conducted this week.

The Chairperson of the Misseirya’s Youth Association to Support Abyei, Mahmoud Abdulkarim, said in a press conference in Khartoum that the planned vote will be held north of Bahr Al-arab (river Kiir).

According to Abdulkarim, the referendum will be observed by local and international observers. They called on the Dinka Ngok tribe to take part in the vote.

Last week the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, warned that the unilateral referendum was illegal.

The United Nations Security Council, the governments of South Sudan and Sudan have all stated the unilateral vote is not helpful to a final political solution to the status of the area.

South Sudan’s Government Spokesperson, Michael Makuei, recently said President Salva Kiir, had written to African Union mediators about the issue.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir had earlier pledged to work with the South Sudan government to settle the future of the contested Abyei region.