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Chased out of her home, woman now starts anew in devastated town at center of contested border region of Abyei

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Angelina Methiang, a 42-year old refugee from the Nuba Mountains, works on a house she is building in Abyei, a town at the center of the contested Abyei region along the border between Sudan and South Sudan. Methiang's home in the Nuba Mountains was destroyed in 2012 by troops from the Republic of Sudan, and she fled for the relative safety of Abyei, where in 2011 soldiers and militias from the northern Republic of Sudan had swept through the area, chasing out tens of thousands of residents and looting and burning what was left behind. Although Ethiopian peacekeepers patrol the region, renewed attacks in Abyei by northern-backed Misseriya militias in 2013 have Methiang and others worried. The African Union has proposed a new peace plan for Abyei, including a referendum to be held in October 2013, but it has been rejected by the Misseriya and Khartoum. The Catholic parish of Abyei, with support from Caritas South Sudan and other international church partners, has maintained its pastoral presence among the displaced and assisted them with food, shelter, and other relief supplies.

Filename
south-sudan-2013-jeffrey-abyei-147.jpg
Copyright
Paul Jeffrey
Image Size
4256x2832 / 3.7MB
Contained in galleries
Abyei
Angelina Methiang, a 42-year old refugee from the Nuba Mountains, works on a house she is building in Abyei, a town at the center of the contested Abyei region along the border between Sudan and South Sudan. Methiang's home in the Nuba Mountains was destroyed in 2012 by troops from the Republic of Sudan, and she fled for the relative safety of Abyei, where in 2011 soldiers and militias from the northern Republic of Sudan had swept through the area, chasing out tens of thousands of residents and looting and burning what was left behind. Although Ethiopian peacekeepers patrol the region, renewed attacks in Abyei by northern-backed Misseriya militias in 2013 have Methiang and others worried. The African Union has proposed a new peace plan for Abyei, including a referendum to be held in October 2013, but it has been rejected by the Misseriya and Khartoum. The Catholic parish of Abyei, with support from Caritas South Sudan and other international church partners, has maintained its pastoral presence among the displaced and assisted them with food, shelter, and other relief supplies.