Southern Sudanese are now calling for a political settlement to the Abyei issue, after the two partners failed to agree on how to hold the referendum as specified in the 2005 peace deal.
They argue that it was the British colonialists who decided that Abyei would be better off governed from El-Obeid, which is in South Kordofan.
The Abyei Protocol, which was signed nine months before the 2005 Sudanese peace deal, expected Abyei residents to hold their simultaneous referendum from January 9 to decide whether they wanted to belong to the South or the North. But polling there was postponed indefinitely after neither side agreed on who is eligible to participate. Khartoum wanted the nomadic Misseriya tribe, who are residents of the North but moved to Abyei for water and pasture, to also take part.
However, the SPLM rejected the move on the grounds that the Misseriya, who are sympathetic to the North could tilt the scale. During the 21-year North-South conflict, some Misseriya groups fought alongside the pro-government forces.
Jervasio Okot, a member of the civil society pressure group that mobilised Southerners to vote, argued that holding the referendum in Abyei at the same time could have complicated the exercise in the South because it is a disputed land.
Now, the Abyei issue will have to be solved out of the CPA as part of the post-referendum issues to be discussed and settled in the six months interim period. Other issues include the north-south border, oil revenue and pipeline, the national debt, currency and citizenship. This is because even if the South votes for secession, it will only be declared a republic on July 9.
Historically, Abyei — which contains the bulk of the oil deposits in the South — has been occupied by the Ngok Dinka and the Misseriya.
For decades, the two communities, both of whom keep cattle, had developed a traditional arrangement in which, during drought, the Misseriya could water their cattle on the River Kiir, the only one that survives the drought in the region.
But after the CPA, the region became increasingly militarised and the GOSS has been accusing Khartoum of arming the Misseriya to terrorise other groups with the intention of intimidating them before the 2011 referendum.
A day before the referendum, the two tribes clashed in skirmishes that left nine dead. The heavy fighting heightened fears that Khartoum could have been trying to derail the referendum in the South, while at the same time creating despondency in Abyei.