November 6, Nairobi — The war in Sudan has impacts across borders, an official from the United Nations Department of Peace Operations said on Tuesday in a meeting with the Security Council focusing on the situation in Sudan and South Sudan.
There are profound impacts in South Sudan, particularly the oil-rich disputed Abyei area which straddles the border between the two countries and is claimed by both sides. It is locatied within the southern portion of the southern Kordofan state in Sudan. The conflict is worsening instability in the region.
Those in Abyei have suffered with disruptions in oil production and surging refugee arrivals. This has left “stretched resources in South Sudan under greater strain,” Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa at the UN Department of Peace Operations told the Council.
Pobee also discussed the movement of Sudanese armed groups, such as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), compounding the “fragile security situation” in South Sudan and exacerbating pre-existing community tensions. There have been reports of RSF looting in areas in Abyei.
The area also dealt with heavy rains in September and October, displacing 18,000 people in Abyei and destroying homes and vital infrastructure.
Dialogue between Sudan and South Sudan on Abyei and its border issues remain stalled. Pobee called for the full deployment of UN police forces to bolster security in the area. The UK representative at the UN Security Council meeting said that South Sudan and Sudan most work together to resolve Abyei’s political status.
In the meeting Pobee also said that as the war between the Sudanese army and RSF enters its nineteenth month, it remains a major source of destabilization in the Horn of Africa and Sahel regions, with dire security, humanitarian and economic consequences on Sudan’s neighbors.