Politics & Government
Ngok Dinka gather within a stick-framed church in Abyei town, one week after heavy clashes killed dozens 8 miles to the north. Although northern Sudan is Islamic, many southerners practice Christianity or traditional beliefs. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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Buyers crowd a meat stall in Abyei town in mid-January. The trade route to the north is being blocked, so goods in the Abyei market are scarce. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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Ngok Dinka in Abyei town sit in front of a series of closed stalls of the market mid-January 2011. A number of traders have left Abyei after recent clashes, and goods are difficult to get. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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A young woman prepares food in front of her family's pile of possessions in Abyei in mid-January 2011. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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A destroyed building in Abyei town, Sudan, mid-January 2011. Clashes in 2008 razed most of the town to the ground, including this former concrete structure. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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A family of southern returnees from northern Sudan lives out in the open in Sudan's Abyei area, mid-January 2011. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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The United Nations Peacekeeping base in Abyei town, Sudan. Abyei remains under effective siege by northern militias, which have blocked the road to bus traffic. The U.N. peacekeeping mission refuses to escort the buses south, saying that such action falls outside its mandate. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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A group of displaced from the village of Maker Abyior in Sudan's disputed Abyei region gather in Abyei town mid-January 2011. Clashes in Maker Abyior peaked in heavy violence on Jan. 9 between an Arab militia and southern security forces. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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A family of southern returnees from the northern Sudan burns a patch of grass to clear the way for settlement in mid-January 2011. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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A young girl in the town of Rum Ameer, Abyei, prepares for dinner with her family's belongings piled behind her. Many southern Sudanese are returning home from the country's north as the country prepares to split into two new countries this year. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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The Kiir River (or Bahr el Arab) running through the south of Abyei is used by Arab Misseriya nomads to the north for cattle grazing during dry season. The river is now a major source of conflict, as the southern Ngok Dinka want to make it part of a new Southern Sudan state this year. (Alan Boswell/MCT)
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