General Hemeti tells Tutkew Abyei referendum without Miseriya unacceptable

KHARTOUM – The First Vice President of Sudan’s sovereign Council and commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo has reportedly told President Salva Kiir’s security advisor Tut Gatluak who is currently on a visit to Sudan that any future Abyei referendum without the participation of the Arab Miseriya tribe would not be acceptable.

Gatluak is currently in Sudan on an official visit to invite Sudanese leaders for the ceremony of the signing of the final Sudanese peace deal which is set for the first week of October in Juba where it was negotiated.

Speaking to Sudans Post on Friday night, a member of the South Sudan high-level delegation said the Daglo who is better known as Hemeti told Gatluak that Abyei referendum must include the Miseriya and any conduct of the 2005 peace provision without that would not be accepted by the Sudanese part.

“Yesterday, after we met al-Burhan, we went to meet General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. What he said when we raised the issue of Abyei, was that the Miseriya must be part of the Abyei referendum,” the member of the delegation said on condition of anonymity.

Abyei is a contested area between Sudan and South Sudan and a 2013 referendum conducted unilaterally by the Abyei residents of the nine Ngok chiefdom was declared null and void by both countries.