Eng. Valentino Akec, a member of the Abyei border demarcation technical team, has said the 2009 Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling did not determine a boundary between Abyei and Twic Mayardit.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page, Akec said the PCA ruling issued on July 9, 2009, defined only three boundary lines — the northern, eastern and western lines — and that the technical team had no mandate to demarcate the southern line separating Abyei from Twic Mayardit.
“The line separating Twic Mayardit from Abyei depends on the 1956 border, which has not been determined by the two countries,” Akec said.
He argued that Abyei was wrong to establish a boundary with Twic Mayardit before the completion of the 1956 Sudan–South Sudan border demarcation process, saying the matter should only be handled by the official border commission.
“Doing that process should only happen after the delimitation of the 1956 border between the north and south,” Akec stated.
Akec also warned against continued tensions between Twic and Ngok Dinka communities over the disputed boundary, saying the issue should be resolved through legal and official mechanisms.
His remarks come amid renewed debate over the interpretation of the 2009 PCA ruling and the historical boundaries between Abyei and Twic
