China boosts education revival in Abyei region

Chinese Peace Mission to the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) donates educational material (File photo)

from RAJI BASHIR in Khartoum, SudanSudan Bureau

KHARTOUM, (CAJ News) – EFFORTS to rebuild the education sector after years of conflict in the Abyei region have received a major boost as China donated learning material.

A China military helicopter unit has donated material to the Abyei Complex Secondary School in Abyei.

Abyei is on the border between South Sudan and the Sudan, and has been at the centre of a border dispute between the two nations.

Unit Commander, Wang Suoyong, said the donation represented Chinese peacekeepers’ aspirations to safeguard world peace and to contribute to the building a community with a shared future for mankind as well as spread the hope of peace in the Abyei region.

Mission for the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), led by Major General Benjamin Olufemi Sawyer, attended the handover.

Sawyer noted China’s efforts to empower its people through education, which helped the Asian nation become a leading country in the world.

“The educational materials would go a long way to promote the development of education in Abyei,” the UNISFMA head stated.

Ayak Deng Niyen, the Minister of Education lamented years of conflict had resulted in low levels of education in the region.

He said the situation was not conducive for learning amid insufficient educational infrastructure.

The minister appealed for assistance from international organisations.

Abyei spilled into conflict between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in 2008.

This after Sudan appointed an administrator for the region.

South Sudan attained independence in 2011 and a referendum is pending to determine whether the resources-rich region should be part of the South Kordofan area of Sudan or the Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan.