Abyei

As things stand, Sudan and South Sudan each control parts of the area, but the only armed force allowed in Abyei is the UN Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

With no government, judicial system, or police force, Abyei’s 165,000 Sudanese and South Sudanese inhabitants depend on thousands of Ethiopian peacekeepers, part of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, to maintain stability.

A Ghanaian peacekeeper serving in the disputed Sudan-South Sudan border region of Abyei has won a UN award for championing the rights of women.

Erzuah was commander of the Ghana Engagement Platoon in the 3,000-strong UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), where she served from March 2022 until recently.

The world body warned on Wednesday that the deployment in the southern part of Abyei would create “untold suffering and humanitarian concerns” for civilians in the area.

Abyei’s Deputy Chief Administrator Honorable Noon Deng Nyok was killed on December 31, 2024, along with five others including his bodyguards in a road ambush by gunmen in Agok.

The statement stated that the situation has worsened due to the influx of over 22,000 people crossing the border into Abyei since the beginning of the conflict in neighbouring Sudan.

The troops, who are of the Nigerian Company 2 to the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (NIGCOY 2 UNISFA), consisted of 15 officers and 142 soldiers.

But the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei, or UNISFA instead blamed the Misseriya armed men for heightening tension in the contested area, saying it was the second incident following another one in 2010 in which two people were killed.

Sudan: Hamdok Is Proper Personality - Abyei Council - allAfrica.

The oil-rich Abyei box, as it’s called, is shared by the Misseriya Arab nomads from the north and the Ngok Dinka, a South Sudanese cattle-herding tribe.

On June, 20 of the parties agreed to demilitarize the contested area of Abyei where Ethiopian peacekeepers will be deployed.