Sudan's Omar al-Bashir pledges to resolve Abyei dispute

The Dinka Ngok refuse to accept Sudan's rule

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has pledged to resolve the territorial dispute over Abyei, as voting continues in an unofficial referendum on the region's future.

Abyei's Dinka Ngok ethnic group organised the referendum to demand integration into South Sudan.

The Arabic-speaking Misseriya oppose the vote, saying they want Abyei to remain in Sudan.

Mr Bashir said he would work with South Sudan to find a solution.

Abyei abuts both Sudan and South Sudan - which seceded in 2011 - and is claimed by both countries.

'Obstruction'

A 2005 peace deal that paved the way for a Southern vote on independence in 2011 was supposed to give Abyei a separate referendum on whether to be part of Sudan or South Sudan.

However, the two sides cannot agree on who is eligible to vote in the referendum and so it has not been held.

Mr Bashir said he and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir would continue to look for a solution that "can bring satisfaction to the local communities there".

Hundreds of people have been voting for a second day in the referendum organised by local leaders of the Dinka Ngok ethnic group.

Ballot are papers are marked with two symbols - a pair of clasped hands symbolising a vote to be part of Sudan, and a single hand if people want to join South Sudan, AFP news agency reports.

The Misseriya, who move back and forth through Abyei grazing their cattle, have rejected the referendum.

"What happens in this referendum is none of our business. We don't care about it," Abyei's top Misseriya chief, Mukhtar Babo Nimir, told AFP.

South Sudan also says that it is opposed to the unofficial referendum.

The African Union and United Nations have warned that the referendum could enflame tensions between the two countries.

The UN has some 4,000 peacekeepers in Abyei.

On Sunday, the AU Peace and Security Council said it was unable to visit Abyei because of "obstruction" by Sudan.

Khartoum had "contrived security reasons", it said.

Abyei's Dinka Ngok residents are culturally and ethnically allied to South Sudan and backed its rebel army during decades of civil war against Khartoum's rule.

However, the Arabic-speaking Misseriya people also see it as their ancestral homeland and want to remain in Sudan.

North and South Sudan have suffered decades of conflicts driven by religious and ethnic divides, with an estimated 1.5 million people killed in the civil war.