| Sudan, the largest country in African continent with essential strategic position, has countless wars and crashes. Abyei is known as "Kashmir" of Sudan. The ownership issue of Abyei has been both one of the reasons for Sudan's chaos, and the result of Sudan's various disputes. In 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan successively ended up the 22-year long civil war, which noted that referendums would happen in Abyei and Southern Sudan to decide these two areas' final ownership. Southern Sudan voted for independence which broke Sudan into two countries. However, Abyei, a small area but disputed seriously, was blocked from holding the scheduled referendum. There are three problems. Firstly, regional boundary was still undefined. Secondly, different political forces and ethnics contend on the ownership of natural resources, such as oil and pastures. Thirdly, different religions and other historical reasons caused the antagonistic identity. Due to the important resources and essential strategic position, a compromise cannot be achieved. The disput in Abyei has been constructed into a zero-sum game. Doing this research can help us to understand the clashes in Sudan. Meanwhile, the settling process of Abyei's ownership would influence the whole Sudan's peaceful constribution. It is in favor of understanding the root of Sudan's long-term unstability and the dilemma of modern nationalization with a clear mind of Abyei's disputes. This paper will study the ownership dispute in Abyei historically and comparatively. |
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