ALBAWABA - A regional official in the disputed area of Abyei said that several gunmen attacked villagers in the oil-rich area killing at least 52 people, including a U.N. peacekeeper, and 64 wounded.
Abyei information minister, Bulis Koch, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the cause for the attack Saturday evening was not immediately clear but it was suspected to revolve around a land dispute.
The attackers in Saturday’s violence were armed youth from the Nuer tribe who migrated to Warrap state last year because of flooding in their areas, Koch said.
The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) released a statement castigating the attack that led to a great number of lives lost and severe numbers of injuries.
UNIFSA confirmed that intercommunal clashes occurred in the Nyinkuac, Majbong, and Khadian areas, resulting in casualties and the evacuation of civilians to UNISFA bases.
"An armed group attacked the UNISFA base in Agok." The mission successfully repelled the attack, but unfortunately, a Ghanaian peacekeeper was killed," the statement said.
Both Sudan and South Sudan claim ownership of Abyei, whose status remains unresolved since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
Sudan and South Sudan have disagreed on control of the Abyei region since a 2005 peace treaty ended decades of civil war between Sudan's north and south.
The majority of the region's Ngok Dinka people favor South Sudan, while Misseriya nomads who visit Abyei to find pasture for their cattle prefer Sudan. Currently, the region is controlled by South Sudan.
Following pressure from the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the two de facto leaders, Rapid Support Forces' Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and the Sudanese Armed Forces' Abdel Fattah Burhan, reached an agreement in December 2020 to implement a transitional government in April 2023.
As part of the agreement, the RSF would be integrated into the SAF over two years. However, Dagalo planned to integrate his forces into the SAF over ten years.
Sudan's current conflict stems from this disagreement between Dagalo and Burhan, which has resulted in the internal displacement of 3.8 million Sudanese civilians. Furthermore, the United Nations claims that approximately 13,000 people have been killed since violence erupted in April 2023.
