evidence: The Abyei area is commonly regarded as the bridge between the north and south of Sudan. The Misseriya and the Ngok Dinka have shared resources and cattle grazing areas in Abyei since the 18th century when both groups occupied Kordofan province. More formally, in 1905, during the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium period, the British transferred the administration of the nine Ngok chiefdoms from Bahr el-Ghazal province to Kordofan. However, the arming of the Misseriya by the Government of Sudan during the first civil war and the alignment of the Ngok Dinka with the SPLM sparked the modern day dispute over which group could rightfully claim the Abyei territory. As the fighting resulted in the displacement of the Ngok Dinka from the area at the end of the second civil war, the Misseriya considered Abyei as their own – a claim bitterly contested by the Dinka.2