An unpredictable president needs a credible challenge and has found his summons in Abyei, writes Gamal Nkrumah Sudan is a land of superlatives. Rich, pluralistic and cruel, Abyei is unrivalled in its contradictions even by Sudanese standards. The enclave is infamous for its miscarriages of justice. The bellicose habits of its inhabitants are chilling. Today's north-south divisions in Sudan are sharper, certainly more pugnacious and carry greater risks for the political stability of the entire region. Sudan is going to need more empathy if the country -- or rather the two countries -- are to hold together. Sudanese President Omar Hassan is unsparing about the shortcomings of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), particularly its bid to quash his own ambitions in Abyei -- the oil rich enclave sandwiched between northern and southern Sudan. Yet dig a little deeper and the picture looks entirely different. "Abyei, by Allah, is part of northern Sudan. It shall remain so, I repeat for the hundredth, thousandth, and millionth time." Everyone knows the punchline: the people of Abyei are hungry for change, radical change. They want to live in peace and they want to enjoy the fruits of their labour and substantial oil wealth. They do not want to see the oil revenues pouring into Sudanese state coffers. There are too many variables at work to predict how this belligerent outburst by over Abyei's political future will play out. In any case, all the major southern Sudanese parties -- including the SPLM -- have concurred that Abyei is part and parcel of southern Sudan and that Khartoum must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the nascent South Sudan nation which is scheduled to be formally proclaimed independent in July 2011. In truth Sudan's north and south are not monolithic blocks. In southern Sudan, as in Abyei, memories are fresh about how Arab Muslims and northerners persecuted, oppressed and enslaved southerners and non-Muslims. Such history matters. For if it is overlooked or forgotten by the perpetrators surely there will be blood. 's detractors define Abyei as the oily animist heart of Sudan's Islamic darkness. In truth, Abyei is the home of the Arab Messiriya, devout Muslims, who traditionally graze their cattle there in the rainy season. However, more than half of the population are indigenous Dinka Ngok who are Christian and animist agriculturists. The Sudanese president claims that he is acting in the best interest of the Sudanese people, of the people of Abyei, too. But much of the extra money the region generates from oil revenues has gone on weaponry cruelly used to kill Abyei's inhabitants rather than on urgently needed social and economic development projects. Its economy may have improved recently, thanks in large measure to oil produced in areas such as Abyei, but much of Sudan has performed poorly and the gap in income per head between the capital Khartoum and the marginal regions like Abyei has widened remarkably. retorts that once peace reigns, places like Abyei will benefit tremendously as long as the SPLM stays out of the picture altogether. The SPLM's strategy for developing Abyei looks far more promising to its inhabitants, especially the numerical predominant Dinka Ngok people. Abyei has never been an island of tranquillity. It has long acquired a reputation as a peripheral backwater, a byword for backwardness and underdevelopment. It has been perched at the faultline of the Muslim Arab north and the non-Muslim, non-Arab south. The reason it now hits the headlines is that it is inundated with oil reserves. It is against this portentous backdrop that parliamentary polls took place on Monday in the northern Sudanese state of Southern Kordofan, a state that includes within its territory the enclave of Abyei. Southern Kordofan is also home to the non-Arab and predominantly animist and Christian Nuba people, even though many Nuba are Muslim. The people of Southern Kordofan are also voting to elect a governor, and the ruling National Congress Party of Sudanese President hopes that its candidate will win. The Nuba people have in the past been staunch supporters of the SPLM and many of the SPLM's cadres have hailed from Southern Kordofan. The three main contenders for the much-coveted post of governor are the incumbent Governor Ahmed Haroun, the representative of the ruling NCP, who is a former minister in 's government. Haroun is also on the wanted list of top Sudanese officials by the International Criminal Court based in The Hague, Netherlands, for committing crimes against humanity and genocide. The SPLM candidate is Abdel-Aziz Al-Helou and the third contender is an independent Telfon Kokou, who is being detained by the SPLM authorities in southern Sudan. He is contesting the post in absentia. Against this developmental and ideological backdrop, the SPLM hopes to see Abyei a wellspring of democracy and enlightenment in a benighted Sudan. But the nomadic Arab Messiriya tribesmen who seasonally inhabit Abyei and in the past enslaved its indigenous Dinka Ngok agriculturists are renowned for their fanaticism and zealotry, their enslavement of the non-Arab people of the enclave, and they pretend to be a repository of noble Arab heritage in darkest Africa. Abyei is strategically crucial, a resource rich but hopelessly troubled region in the centre of Sudan. The West and most African countries regard the SPLM's claim for political supremacy in oil-rich Abyei with apparent sympathetic nuance. Khartoum's pretensions to have the upper hand in the region are viewed with critical rigour.
