Abyei: Deadly drone strikes mark ‘new and concerning’ threat, UN peacekeeping chief warns

Drone strikes that killed at least 30 people in Abyei last month have added “a new and concerning dimension” to security in the disputed area, the UN’s peacekeeping chief told the Security Council on Thursday.Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the 19 October attacks were the first of their kind in Abyei. They set off major fires, injured about 59 people and forced dozens of civilians from their homes. Peacekeepers are still checking whether the death toll is an underestimate. The strikes followed violence on 15 September in and around Amiet Common Market, where clashes involving members of the Ngok Dinka, Misseriya and Nuba communities left 124 people dead and 40 injured.Taken together, Mr. Lacroix said, the incidents show that threats to stability in Abyei “are evolving, extending beyond traditional intercommunal dynamics and are increasingly influenced by wider political and economic regional conflicts”.A market at the crossroadsAmiet is now much more than a trading post. It is Abyei’s main economic hub and a transit point for more than 49,000 refugees and returnees who have fled the war in Sudan. Mr. Lacroix warned that this concentration of trade and people was opening the door to crimin...