Sudan: Important statement to the great people of Sudan

Looking critically and realistically into our social and political arena, and far from the unrealistic approach that tie down and detain our ability to free thinking; it is very obvious that our community is uniquely characterized by the rich cultural and geographically diversity. This diversity is largely witnessed and it is absolutely undeniable and indisputable especially in our context in south Sudan and in the Sudan as large.

This diversity poses very crucial and vital questions in regards to the rights of Akobo Anyuak people as indigenous people of the area where they were suppose to have home and participate in the development of our country within this diverse framework. Therefore we the students of Gilo Sons in the Universities and High Institutes for learning would like to clarify the followings:

Akobo which lies geographically in Jonglei State is an ancestral home to the Anyuak since creation and there has been no any presence of Lou Moor in Anyuak land in general and Akobo in particular even after the demarcation of Sudan border in the year 1956.

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, there have been a series of peace conferences organized by the government of Jonglei State to resolve all the pending and contentious issues between the various ethnicities that inhabit the state starting from the peace and reconciliation conference between Lou Nuer and Morle and the one that bring together Dinka and Morle to a table of talk. In all this period the Akobo people (the Anyuak), were patient hoping that their quest will be discussed like the others, given the fact that the Anyuak have become homeless and the return of their IDPs and refugees have become impossible due to the encroachment on Moor on their ancestral lands, but all this was in vain until the Anyuak requested for a peace conference to be held between the people of Akobo and Lou Moor to find a head out.

Initially this Anyuak requested peace conference was conformed to be taking off on the 14th of March 2009, but because of the procrastination of  some Moor leaders and intellectuals with collusion of some government circles, the said conference could not materialized in the fixed date and was postponed to the 18th of March 2009 until the proposal was eventually aborted. This procrastination is clearly attributed to lack of well based arguments by the Moor to proof their ownership over Akobo. Therefore we call upon the Government of National Unity, the Government of southern Sudan, Government of Jonglei State, and the various UN agencies as well as the NGOs to:

1. Prompt and quick intervention to put an end to all this mess and call for a peace conference to be held between the two parties.
2. Immediate and complete evacuation of Akobo and the surrounding villages by the Lou Moor migrants to allow a peaceful return to our people to their ancestral homesteads from the refugees camps and participate in building the nation.
3. Suspension of the so called Akobo county government pending the peace conference referred to earlier.
4. Suspension of all Akobo constituency representatives in all levels of government.
5. Fair representation of Anyuak in the various organs of the government.
6. The Government of southern Sudan (GoSS) should not wait for the situations to accelerate and devastate but should act responsibly to control the situation in Jonglei state. The government must bear full responsibility for any reaction by the Anyuak that may occur as a result to her untimely and effective action and the actions of the Moor migrants and all those who dare to mess up with the Anyuak and their lands.

To the long enduring Anyuak community, we call upon all Anyuak sons and daughters to stand firm and unified against all the conspiracies that aim at weakening our unity and grapping our lands, we are fully confident that the Anyuak kingdom possess all the evident that support its positions in claiming Akobo. Long live Akobo.

• Important message to Moor leaders and intellectuals