Rebuttal to Dr. Luka Biong’s article, “The Abyei Box: What do you know about it?”

The following is what I know about the “Abyei Box”: It is the distortion of the international boundary between two countries, Sudan & South Sudan

By Morris Kuol Yoll, Alberta, Canada

Wednesday, 3 January 2024 (PW) — After meeting with Dr. Riek Machar, First Vice President of South Sudan, Dr. Luka Biong published his opinion article entitled “The Abyei Box:  What Do You Know about Abyei Box?” as published by PaanLuel Wel Media Ltd, an online newspaper. In the article, he stated that the purpose of meeting Dr. Riek was to discuss “some twisted facts about the Abyei Box”.

From his point of view, Dr. Biong did not meet Dr. Riek to discuss the so-called “twisted facts about the Abyei Box.” Instead, he met with him to insinuate that the latter knew how the Abyei Box was created and to use this as an opportunity to write an opinion piece asserting the Abyei Box map is legitimate.

Biong planned to inform the South Sudanese, along with the international communities, that Dr. Riek, Salva Kiir, the President of South Sudan, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the UNISFA, and the Sudanese government were aware of the creation of the falsified part of the “Abyei Box’s” map and, for that matter, endorsed the fictitious “Abyei Box” as the authorized map of the Abyei Chieftaincy or area of the nine Ngok Dinka sections transferred to Kordofan in 1905. 

In short, Biong’s plan was to convince the public that the Twic Community contributed to the creation of the Abyei Box map, which etches the territories of Twic County into Abyei’s territory. These statements demonstrate Dr. Luka’s intentions to provide false information to the public about the Abyei Box, information crafted by the SPLM/A’s Abyei politicians, including Dr. Biong himself.

Biong failed to consider that many South Sudanese cannot be fooled at this point regarding the Abyei Box.  They are well aware of the truth as to those who participated in the crafting of the map, as well as with the Hague’s ruling with regard to the Ngok Dinka regions of the Abyei Administrative Area.

The Ruling Awards Report, produced by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), is a public document.  Many South Sudanese have read the text and are therefore fully aware of what was awarded to the Ngok Dinka of Abyei, as well as the distortion of its final awards by the Abyei’s elites.

It is a known fact that Dr. Luka Biong is one of those Abyei politicians who participated in the creation of the map known as the  “Abyei Box”, a map that has intentionally distorted the international boundaries between Sudan and South Sudan; a map that he himself took to the Hague to be approved of as a map of nine Ngok Dinka that was transferred to Kordofan; a problematic map that has currently created a communal war between Twic and Ngok Dinka.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) was tasked with determining the areas of the nine Ngok Dinka in the northern, eastern, and western boundaries (excluding the southern boundary) that divide Ngok Dinka of Kordofan-Sudan and Twic Dinka of Bahr El Gazal. The PCA came up with a clear ruling that awarded the northern boundary to Ngok Dinka, as stated here in its final awards.

According to the ABC Experts, “The Ngok have a legitimate, dominant claim to the territory from the Kordofan – Bahr el-Ghazal boundary north to latitude 10°10’N.” The northern boundary, known as the “Kordofan-Bahr el Gazal boundary,” refers to the boundary between the Sudan and South Sudan north of Abyei. This boundary separates Ngok and Messirya.

The Southern boundary between Bahr el Gazal and Kordofan (as of January 1, 1956) is known as the Kiir River and separates Ngok of Abyei and Twic County.  This boundary between Twic Dinka of Bahr el Gazal and Ngok Dinka of Kordofan, Sudan, was left as it is according to the Hague’s arbitration awards ruling of July 22 2009, as stipulated in the following document:

“In respect of the ABC Experts’ decision that “[t]he southern boundary shall be the Kordofan – Bahr el-Ghazal – Upper Nile boundary as it was defined on 1 January 1956,” the ABC Experts did not exceed their mandate” – (Report of International Arbitration Awards, P.413).

The ruling indicates that the southern boundary is the Kiir River, and that it was left as it is according to The Hague’s ruling. The Kiir River is the true boundary that separates Twic and Abyei. The undefined boundary adopted by the Abyei Special Administration is irrelevant.

Although the Hague’s ruling was put into place, the Abyei Box map, adopted by the Abyei Special Administration, still creeps south of the Kiir River, violating the Southern boundary between Bahr el Gazal and Kordofan, which separates Ngok Dinka and Twic Dinka.

In other words, the Abyei Box map distorts the international boundaries between Sudan and South Sudan, because Abyei is not yet part of South Sudan, and the boundary between Bahr el Gazal and Kordofan was left as is according to the Hague’s Ruling.

Furthermore, I am aware that, according to the ABC’s “Southern Sudan Boundary Background” report, the boundary south of the Kiir River was not defined to give Abyei a demarcated map that crossed the 1956 boundary between Twic and Abyei.

The Southern Sudan Boundary Background report recommends that the Southern boundary between Twic and Ngok be resolved after 2011 and recommends that physical landmarks be developed to help when the determination of this boundary comes forth in the future.

The ABC’s “Southern Sudan Boundary Background” report does not refer to the map of the Sudan, which indicates the January 1, 1956 boundary running through the Kiir River, but instead refers to another map (the current Abyei Box) that crosses the Kiir River with undefined physical boundaries, and a map with no “topography” or landmarks, a map that according to the ABC report could pose problems when the time comes to demarcate the boundary between Twic County and Abyei Special Administration.

I have to wonder why the map that was chosen was the “Abyei Box” map, instead of the official 1956 map in which the boundary was recognized in January 1, 1956, as stipulated in the ruling, a boundary that, according to the Hague ruling should remain as it is.

In other words, the current Abyei Box map should have adhered to the Hague ruling and adopted the southern boundary that passes through the Kiir River according to the ruling as well as to the actual 1956 boundary agreement between Sudan and Southern Sudan.

The Hague ruling left this southern boundary to remain as it was as of January 1, 1956. However, the Abyei Box crossed this boundary southward, a clear violation of the Hague ruling.

Dr. Luka Biong should explain why or how the “Abyei Box ” map crossed the Bahr el Gazal-Kordofan boundary despite the Arbitrary Court ruling that stated the Southern boundary should remain as it is according to the boundary agreement of January 1, 1956.

Given the aforementioned Hague rulings, who else has fabricated or twisted the facts about the “Abyei Box” other than Dr. Biong, who served as Presidential Affairs Minister trusted by the President to help the ABC determine the correct boundary of the nine Ngok Dinka transferred to Kordofan in 1905?

The Abyei Box Map is a falsified map that must not be sold to the public as a legitimately recognized document. This map has generated conflicts between communities, and I believe it to be a political “Pandora’s Box” for South Sudan that must be nullified in order to achieve peace between the Ngok Dinka of the Abyei Administration Area and the affected communities.

The author, Morris Kuol Yoll, is a concerned South Sudanese Canadian who can be reached via his email address: myoll2002@yahoo.com.

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