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Rift Valley Institute

Making local knowledge work

Abyei referendum: A threat to peace?

Since becoming Africa's newest country in 2011, South Sudan continues to remain locked in a land dispute with Sudan over the Abyei region which covers 10,000 square kilometres of farmland, desert and oil fields. People in the contested border region have voted in an unofficial referendum to decide which country they want to belong to – Sudan or South Sudan. What will the referendum mean for South Sudan's bumpy relationship with its northern neighbour? Will the vote create more unrest in the fiercely contested region? Inside Story, with presenter Mike Hanna, is joined by guests: Luka Biong, a spokesperson for the Abyei Referendum High Committee; John Ryle, the director of the Rift Valley Institute and an anthropologist specialising on Sudan; and Waleed Madibo, a Sudan affairs analyst.

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