Südsudan/Sudan (Abyei)

Nearly five thousand internally displaced people have moved to Abyei town following a brutal attack by Misseriya armed men on a Dinka Ngok village.

The United Nations is condemning the deadly attack on a village in the disputed oil-rich area of Abyei between Sudan and South Sudan Wednesday. It is calling for calm in the wake of the attack by armed gunmen, which left dozens dead and scores injured. Armed gunmen reportedly killed 32 people, injured 25 and went on a rampage, burning homes and causing other devastation in the Dinka village of Kolom.

Wednesday’s attack unfolded at 7 a.m. local time, said Kuol Alor Kuol, head of the Abyei administration, when the tribesmen stormed the Dinka village of Kolom near Abyei town and set some of its dwellings ablaze.

The Security Council today decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) until 15 May 2020, specifying “measurable progress” in border issues needed from Sudan and South Sudan before that date.

Sudan and neighbouring South Sudan “have never been closer” to reaching a sustainable peace with each other, and their own internal armed opposition groups, the head of UN peacekeeping told the Security Council on Thursday. The meeting was focused on the disputed, arid, oil-rich border territory of Abyei, where the UN Interim Security Force, UNISFA, has helped to monitor an uneasy peace without formal governance, and protect civilians, since 2011, in the weeks before South Sudan became independent from its northern neighbour.

The contested Abyei administrative area at the Sudan-South Sudan border has appealed to the United Nation Interim Security Forces for Abyei (UNISFA) to scale up security measures to protect residents from attacks.

Unknown gunmen killed a U.N. peacekeeper and six civilians in the disputed region of Abyei on the border between Sudan and South Sudan, the regional governor said on Wednesday.

The United Nations security force for Abyei remains essential to stability in the border regions between Sudan and South Sudan, the UN peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday, proposing the creation of a civilian unit to support progress towards political resolution of the dispute between the neighboring countries, and requesting a six-month extension of its mandate.

The United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of Abyei security force (UNISFA) for six months but once again it sets conditions for the continuation of its support to the Sudan-South Sudan border monitoring mechanism. … The Council "Decides to extend until 15 April 2019 UNISFA ’s mandate modification set forth in resolution 2024 (2011) and paragraph I of resolution 2075 (2012), and further decides that this shall be the final such extension unless the parties take the specific measures described in paragraph 3," reads the resolution 2438 adopted unanimously on Thursday.