Post-independence South Sudan and the Ethiopian Peacekeeping Mission in Abyei
The 54th newest nation in Africa and the 193rd new member of the United Nations, Republic of South Sudan is surrounded by a lot of complications. A number of outstanding thorny issues are feared to lead to a relapse of the devastating war with what has now become its Northern neighbour
Debay Tadesse, Senior Researcher, African Conflict Prevention Programme, ISS Addis Ababa Office
South Sudan has drawn international attention because of the long referendum process that finally took place in January 2011 where the overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted for independence. The struggle of the people of South Sudan under the leadership of the SPLM, the political wing, and the Sudan People`s Liberation Army (SPLA), the military wing, began three decade ago and resulted in the death and displacement of millions of people.
Africa’s 54th newest nation and the 193rd new member of the United Nations, the Republic of South Sudan faces many challenges. A number of outstanding thorny issues are feared to lead to a recurrance of the devastating war with what has now become its Northern neighbour. In June 2010, the government of The Republic of the Sudan and The Sudan People`s Liberation Movement/Sudan People`s Liberation Army signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Mekelle, Ethiopia that committed them to a discussion of the post-referendum issues and outlined its modalities. A joint negotiating team was established, with six members from each party. Four clustered working groups were also established: Citizenships; Security; Financial, Economic, and Natural Resources; and International Treaties and Legal Issues – to review potential arrangements on each cluster and feed in to a joint high-level negotiation team. Each group had three to five negotiators from each party supported by technical experts as requested.
Despite this progress, significant hurdles remain before long-term peace could prevail in South Sudan. Any future peace agreements between the South Sudanese government and dissident elements will face serious challenges in their implementation and remain vulnerable to security threats from spoilers. Ultimately, confidence-building and addressing the root cause of conflict in the South takes time. As such, action on the ground, not agreements on paper, will bring peace. Indeed, the signature of the peace agreement is only the first step.
The main protagonists in the referendum from both the National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan People’s Libration Movement (SPLM) have not yet reached agreement on several post-referendum issues. At present, both sides are making irredentist territorial claims backed by violence. There are ethnic enclaves in the frontier areas of Abyei whose national affiliations are ill-defined and overlap with territory claimed by both sides. An urgent resolution of this border issue is of paramount significance before it deteriorates from a currently acute instability between the two neighboring states. Abyei is a migration route and seasonal destination area, where the Missiriya graze their animals. They are nomadic but are considered northerners. Traditionally they negotiated grazing rights with the southern Dinka Ngok communities who live primarily in Abyei. This competition for land and grazing rights will linger regardless of where the boundaries are drawn, delimited and demarcated. Thus, an arrangement for some local free movement of the communities needs to be arranged.
Moreover, in July 2011 when Independence Day approached, tensions between the two sides erupted into a full-scale war that saw troops from the North take over the highly contested oil-rich region of Abyei - the only state which still has a referendum pending. This heightened tensions ahead of Southern Sudan`s independence on 9 July 2011. Consequently, the UN Security Council has voted unanimously to send a 4 200 strong Ethiopian peacekeeping forces to the disputed Sudanese territory of Abyei. The resolution establishes a new UN peacekeeping force, called the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). This comes a week after Northern and Southern leaders signed a deal in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to demilitarize Abyei and let Ethiopian troops monitor the peace. In its part, Ethiopia announced that it will deploy its troops to the disputed region and its role to resolve the recent crisis was highly appreciated by both sides. This was also in accordance with an agreement between South and North Sudan endorsed by the African Union and IGAD and facilitated by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, chief of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AU-HIP).
Ethiopia`s participation in a number of UN Peacekeeping operations has won it continental and global recognition. Ethiopia contributed troops to the United Nations Operations in Congo (UNUC) established from July 1960 to June 1964. The country also participated in the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) as provided under the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, signed at Arusha on 28 August 2000. It also dispatched troops to the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to support the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the peace process has won admiration from both the UN and the Liberian people and government. Its contingent dispatched to other UN or AU missions have enjoyed similar acclaim.
On the contrary, some commentators argue that the proposal of an Ethiopian peacekeeping role in Abyei is a band-aid that would not help peace. They point out that it may even make things worse by intensifying regional rivalry. Furthermore, there is concern that the Ethiopian peacekeeping in Abyei is not impartial and can not be a neutral arbiter in Sudan. Nevertheless, one should not forget that the difficulties in deployment, coordination and making an integrated mission operation in South Sudan are immense and challenging. The problems facing the UN mission in South Sudan are vast and complicated. In the short-term, however, the UN should address pressing issues so as to avoid dangerous friction with Khartoum as well an internal instability.
Undeniably, the UN peacekeeping missions are playing an increasing role in the protection of civilians. However, there is a lack of clarity about what this development means for humanitarians. In contexts such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Darfur and Chad, UN peacekeeping missions and the humanitarian community do interact around protection issues, but their relationship can often be best described as one of co-existence rather than a meaningful desire to coordinate better. Despite the growing importance of civilian protection for both, the interaction is often ad hoc and not strategic. Coordination at the field level is not always clear, and at headquarters there is a big gap in policy and guidance to provide direction. These certainly demand attention.
In conclusion, the failures of past UN and international engagement in Sudan can offer valuable lessons for the future that must be urgently applied to present circumstances. There is a need to also urgently to address the outstanding issues, including Abyei, citizenship, international treaties, currency, oil revenues, borders, Nile water sharing and other economic issues and how these could be addressed in an urgent, transparent and peaceful manner. It is equally important to address the main policy challenges and choices likely to confront the newly independent South Sudan.
