The Sudan negotiators need to hurry

Things are heating up in Abyei, an oil-endowed region that lies along the boundary between North and South Sudan.  According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005, Abyei should decide in a referendum whether to join the North or the South, where a January 9 referendum will decide whether the South will declare independence next July.

But North and South have failed to agree on who should be permitted to vote in the Abyei referendum, with the North backing Arabic-speaking nomads who enter Abyei, which is largely settled by Ngok Dinka farmers loyal to the South, for a substantial portion of the year.

There is talk of a negotiated settlement of Abyei’s fate, to be reached in talks led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki.  The negotiators had better hurry.