Before there was an Association, there was Abyei — the land, the people, and a question that has waited two decades for an answer.
Abyei is a region straddling the border between Sudan and South Sudan, home to the Ngok Dinka people. It is a land of fertile grazing plains, seasonal rivers, and a way of life built around cattle, agriculture, and deep-rooted community ties.
Abyei holds a special administrative status recognised under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) — neither fully part of Sudan nor formally part of South Sudan, but a territory whose people were promised the right to decide their own future. That promise remains unfulfilled to this day.
Despite its uncertain political status, Abyei remains the ancestral home to which its people — including the youth who now live and work in Juba — trace their identity, their land claims, and their hope for a peaceful, dignified resolution.
The story of Abyei stretches back long before the borders that now divide it.
The Ngok Dinka have lived on the lands of Abyei for generations, herding cattle and farming along its rivers, long before any modern national border passed through the region.
Under British colonial administration, the Ngok Dinka territory was transferred to Kordofan in the north, planting the seed of a boundary dispute that would outlive colonial rule itself.
Abyei's status was debated during Sudan's first civil war and again as the second civil war broke out, with the region repeatedly caught at the center of the country's north–south fault line.
The CPA that ended Sudan's civil war granted Abyei special administrative status and promised its residents a separate referendum — to be held alongside South Sudan's — to choose between remaining part of Sudan or joining South Sudan.
For more than two decades, the people of Abyei have waited for a promise to be fulfilled. Here is where things stand — and why the Association continues to raise its voice.
South Sudan voted for independence in January 2011. Abyei's own referendum did not take place — a disagreement over who was eligible to vote left the process unresolved, and it remains so today.
In October 2013, the people of Abyei organised their own community referendum. The overwhelming majority voted to join South Sudan — a result not formally recognised by Sudan, South Sudan, or the African Union, but a clear expression of the community's will.
Abyei remains a special administrative area, monitored by a UN peacekeeping force, while its final political status is still discussed between Sudan and South Sudan under African Union mediation. No permanent resolution has yet been reached.
"We call on our leaders, our neighbours, and the international community to finally honour the promise made to the people of Abyei — a free, fair, and peaceful resolution of our final status, once and for all."
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