Abyei

The Democratic Change party has joined calls for the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs over a letter implying that Abyei is part of the Sudan.

Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin signed the letter to the UN Human Rights Commission, explaining the human rights situation in South Sudan.

He said in the letter that former minister Dr Luka Biong Deng, who hails from Abyei, was a citizen of the Republic of the Sudan.

The Minister was trying to explain why Dr Luka was removed from his position as Director of the Centre for Peace at the University of Juba, after organizing a debate on the creation of more states.

The Democratic Change party says the letter, which is dated the 9th of March, gives an area of South Sudan to the Sudan.

In this case, the result would be that the government has removed South Sudanese citizenship rights from the people of Abyei.

“We firmly reject any attempt to resolve the Abyei problem outside the framework of what was agreed between the Governments of South Sudan and Sudan with international observation,” said SPLM-DC spokesman Mahjoub Biel Turuk in a statement.

The status of abyei, which was transferred to Southern Kordofan in 1905, is being contested by Sudan and South Sudan. The two sides are yet to agree on a referendum to determine the status of the region.

The party says this is a betrayal of the people of Abyei and all the South Sudanese. It has called upon the government to take actions to prove that the letter does not represent its position.

“We call on the Minister of Foreign Minister to resign immediately because he is the signatory to the letter and must thus shoulder the responsibility for its contents.”

The former political detainees made a similar call last evening. But Dr Marial has said he meant to say Dr Luka Biong was a South Sudanese citizen. He said it was not correct to dwell on this issue.