Further Setbacks in Sudan as Abyei poll Delayed

Fears expressed in this blog earlier this month over the Sudanese referendum were today confirmed when a spokesman for the National Congress Party (NCP) said it was extremely unlikely that the poll in Abyei would occur on the 9th January.

Abyei is an oil rich region that is currently claimed by both North and South Sudan. It is seen as crucial for the future wellbeing of the South if it were to split from the north as it would need the oil wealth that the region would bring.


But now it seems less and less likely that even if the North lets the South secede successfully it will happen either without the south or require a significant of bargaining. "It is very clear that right now it is not possible to have the Abyei referendum on 9 January, 2011. We all agree that this is no longer practical," Didiri Mohammad Ahmad of the NCP.

"We agreed that in the next talks we will try to look for other alternatives" and he later conceded that the territorial row might be settled without a poll. People in the South are sceptical if there would be any chance of it joining the potential new state of South Sudan if the dispute was settled with no referendum.

The President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, also warned recently that a new civil war might break out if disputes, especially territorial ones, are not settled. This does seem to suggest a poorly veiled threat from the president that if Politicians in the south do not concede over the issue of Abyei trouble may ensue.

Again it appears that the prospect of the South rendering itself from the North peacefully seems less and less likely.