General information
Part of Conflict: Sudan: Abyei
Date of first stated goals of incompatibility: 2011-04-27
Comment on date of first stated goal of incompatibility: Abyei has been contested between Sudan and South Sudan for a long time and the issue of Abyei was one of the hardest to solve in the negotiations leading to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 but finally an Abyei agreement was signed. Although contested by both parties none of them have stated that they should use violence to incorporate into their territory. However, on 27 of April 2011 this changed when the President of Sudan Omar el Bashir stated that: "Abyei is part of north Sudan and will remain of the north. We do not say this just here. We say it in many forums and occasions" and followed up the statement with threats to wage war against the Republic of South Sudan if they attempted to annex Abyei to the South Sudan. Thus, this statement is coded as the first stated goal of incompatibility.
Date of first use of armed force: 2011-05-01
Comment on date of first use of armed force: On May 1 2011 a heavily armed Sudanese army convoy entered Abyei in a clear breach of what’s agreed upon in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The invasion of the Sudanese army sparked heavy fighting with the police from South Sudan placed in the region. This was followed by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces together with government militias against Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) and Southern Sudan Police Service (SSPS).
First Battle Related Death: 2011-05-01
Comment on First Battle Related Death: On May 1 2011 a heavily armed Sudanese army convoy entered Abyei in a clear breach of what’s agreed upon in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The invasion of the Sudanese army sparked heavy fighting with the police from South Sudan placed in the region. This was followed by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces together with government militias against Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) and Southern Sudan Police Service (SSPS).
Date when dyad reached 25 battle releated deaths: 2011-05-19
Comment on date when dyad reached 25 battle related deaths: On 19 May 2011 the Sudanese Armed Forces invaded the Abyei and they took control over the area. The invasion provoked heavy fighting with police and military of the Republic of South Sudan which resulted in more than 20 deaths which led to that the threshold of 25 battle-related deaths was met.
Conflict issues
Conflict Goal Issues: The Republic of South Sudan refers to the leadership of the autonomous province of South Sudan that was established in 2005 until 2011, when South Sudan was established as an independent state. The Republic were not characterized by any particular ethnic, religious, or ideological characteristics, but rather its aim to secede from Sudan, establish an independent state of South Sudan, and protect the citizens of South Sudan. The leadership of the Republic of South Sudan largely sprung from previous South Sudanese rebel groups, mainly the SSDF, SPLM/A, and the various splinter groups of SPLM/A. The Republic of South Sudan is coded as a rebel group in the UCDP-CID as it was a non-state actor in conflict with a state. Whilst the Republic of South Sudan was existed for 6 years, it was only interpreted as pronouncing conflict issues during 2011, during which it stated three conflict goal issues. The Republic of South Sudan accused the Sudanese government of electoral fraud and expressed its opposition to elections, called for the basic needs of the South Sudanese people to be protected, and called for the border town of Abyei to be integrated into South Sudan. As the Republic of South Sudan was only coded for one year, no main conflict issues were attributed to the group.
Conflict Dynamics Issues: The Republic of South Sudan stated four conflict dynamics issues during 2011, calling attention to the armed forces of Sudan committing atrocities against police forces in Abyei and calling upon the international community to withdraw its political support from the Sudanese government, to pressure the Sudanese government to resolve the conflict, and to establish an international monitoring mission to oversee the conflict and negotiations.
Conflict Resolution Issues: During 2011, the Republic of South Sudan raised one conflict resolution issues, calling for Sudanese government forces to abide by an agreed upon ceasefire and cease fighting in Abyei.
Type of conflict issues: The coded conflict issues for this group are: Conflict Goal Issues: Basic needs, Electoral fraud, Irredentism
Conflict Dynamics Issues: Atrocities and abuses, DFI: Withdrawal of political support, IFI: International monitoring, IFI: Use of foreign influence
Conflict Resolution Issues: Peace agreement implementation
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
2011
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 145 |
| Best | 145 |
| Low | 145 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Government of Sudan): n/a
Side B (Republic of South Sudan): n/a
Dyad Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
2011 Dyad Archive
Comment on Active: On May 1 2011 a heavily armed Sudanese army convoy entered Abyei in a clear breach of what’s agreed upon in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The invasion of the Sudanese army sparked heavy fighting with the police from South Sudan placed in the region. This was followed by fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces together with government militias against Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) and Southern Sudan Police Service (SSPS).
This was followed by a proper invasion of Abyei by Sudanese Armed Forces on 19 of May 2011 when they took control over the area. The invasion provoked heavy fighting with police and military of the Republic of South Sudan. The fighting in May is estimated to have killed more than 100 people and displaced at least 60,000. On 9 July 2011 South Sudan gained its independence but the status of Abyei was still unclear. South Sudan had it included in its constitution but Khartoum said that the area belonged to Sudan. In addition to the state-based conflict in Abyei there was a parallel and heavily interlinked ongoing non-state conflict between the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya in 2011. For information on this conflict see the UCDP non-state data.
Negotiations: YES
Comment on Negotiations: The African Union was involved in negotiations in relevance to the Abyei conflict in 2011 through the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel for Sudan. This panel was led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki and negotiations under his chairmanship led to an agreement in which it was decided that a peace-keeping mission should be sent to Abyei and that Khartoum’s troops should withdraw from Abyei and the region to be a non-militarized zone. However, this was never implemented and at the end of 2011 the Sudanese Armed Forces was still in control over Abyei.
Victory: NO
Terminated: YES
Type of termination: Other
Date of termination: 2011-07-09
Comment on Termination: As South Sudan gained independence on 9 July 2011 the Abyei area remained contested, but as a new country was created the intrastate conflict was terminated as of that day.
Comment on Termination Date: On 9 July 2011 South Sudan gained its independence. Thus, the non-governmental actor of the Republic of South Sudan is terminated from that date.
