Nuba alliance denounces NCP’s proposal to break up of South Kordofan

Khartoum
18 April, 2011 (Sudan Tribune)

The proposed break up of South Kordofan state has been opposed by the alliance of Western Nuba Mountains associations, societies and organizations, Ajras al Hurriyah newspaper reported on Saturday.

North Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has pledged to reinstate the state of West Kordofan should the party win the state’s gubernatorial elections set to begin in the first week of May.

West Kordofan was abolished and merged into South Kordofan state in 2005 as per the provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended decades of north-south war and accorded Abyei area of the state a special administrative status.

The Khartoum based newspaper reported that the alliance said that re-establishing Western Kordofan State would ignore the opinions of citizens warning that the situation could explode accusing the NCP of being involved in serious violations in the region..

At a press conference at the Ajras al-Hurriyah the chairman of the alliance, Kaki Kuwa said that the re-establishment of Western Kordorfan would be tantamount to splitting the state on ethnic racial and ethnic grounds. "This is dangerous and will harm the social set-up", he said.

Western Kordorfan is primarily home to the Misseriya tribe an Arab cattle herding group, some of whom fought as proxies or as part of the NCP controlled Popular Defense Forces (PDF) during the North-South civil war.

Gubernatorial and legislative elections in oil-producing South Kordofan did not place with the rest of Sudan in April last year due to disagreements over a 2008 census.

Current governor, the Ahmed Haroun, who has been indicted for by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in coordinating brutal militias during Khartoum’s counter-insurgency campaign in Darfur, is the NCP candidate despite not being from the state.

Tension flared up last week as Abdul Aziz Adam al-Hilu, a candidate of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the state’s deputy governor, accused militias loyal to Haroon of being behind an attack that killed at least 17 people in El-feid village.

The NCP deny being behind the attack, instead accusing the SPLM and in particular Al-Hilu of instigating the violence in an attempt to influence the outcome of the elections.

Under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, South Kordofan is due to hold a “popular consultation” after the elections to determine whether the agreement has met the aspirations of the state’s people and resolve any pending issues related to its implementation.

As part of the deal the South was granted the right to secede, which it voted for by an overwhelming majority in a January referendum. After July South Kordofan will remain in the North after the South secedes, despite many Nuba groups from South Kordofan, fighting with the South against Khartoum during the conflict.

The Nuba Mountains Homepage was made by Nanne op 't Ende.
You can contact me here.