FVP Dr. Riek Machar recieves Abyei referendum results. January 3, 2025. (Photo: FVP's office/Facebook).

First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar has received the official report of the 2013 Abyei community referendum on the disputed region’s final status, expected to be tabled in the South Sudan cabinet and parliament for ratification.

This followed years of advocacy by the Ngok Dinka community seeking to have the final status of the disputed region determined.

The Head of the Governance Cluster discussed the region’s overall situation with a delegation led by Chief Administrator Dr. Chol Deng Alak and East African Community Minister Deng Alor Kuol, a statement from Machar’s office said.

The visiting team also comprises members of both chambers of the national parliament from the area, the speaker of the Abyei legislative assembly, and representatives of the Ngok Dinka community.

In November 2024, the administrative government of the region called on the South Sudan government to endorse the outcome of the October 2013 referendum in which 99 percent of the Ngok Dinka voted to be part of South Sudan.

However, the 8th Governors Forum declined to publicly read out recommendations on the disputed region’s final status, including the call to recognize the referendum results.

On December 23, 2024, the Executive Council of the Abyei Administrative Area then went ahead and unanimously endorsed the results of the 2013 referendum officially presented by the high commission of the Abyei Community.

Meanwhile, FVP Machar said the referendum report will be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice before being presented to the Governance Cluster, Cabinet, and National Legislative Assembly for further deliberation and approval.

According to the statement, the handover signifies a step forward in resolving Abyei’s long-standing dispute and underscores the government’s commitment to addressing the community’s aspiration for its final status.

On his part, Monyluak Aguer, advisor for legal affairs in the Abyei Chief Administrative, underscored that the Governance Cluster will play a crucial role in facilitating South Sudan’s official recognition of the region as part of its territory.

He said he hopes to see initiation of formal processes of ratifying the results through deliberation and ratification by the Council of Ministers and the National Legislative Assembly.

“The chief of the administration area and the accompanying delegation handed over the results of the referendum to the first vice president and the official responsible for the governance cluster,” he confirmed.

“This is for referendum results to be approved through the main channels for final ratification through the Council of Ministers and Parliament. We hope that these procedures will be completed because the people of Abyei have waited a long time, and we are awaiting the results.”

Abyei is the traditional homeland of the Ngok Dinka, but herders linked to the northern nomadic Arab tribe of Misseriya seasonally cross to Abyei with their cattle in search of water and pasture in the dry season and to trade goods.

In 1972, at the end of Sudan’s first civil war, the Addis Ababa Agreement promised residents of Abyei the right to hold a referendum to determine whether they would remain a part of northern Sudan or join the newly formed southern region.

However, in 1983, Sudan descended into another civil war after President Jaafar Nimeiri refused to implement the agreement and allow Abyei to hold its referendum.

The war ended after signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, which included the Abyei Protocol stipulating that the region would remain under special administrative status.

The region was said to hold a status referendum to allow its residents to determine whether Abyei would become part of Sudan or South Sudan.

In October 2013, the Ngok Dinka held the referendum in which they overwhelmingly voted for Abyei to be part of South Sudan, but the result was not recognized by either Sudan or South Sudan.