The Abyei status referendum is a delayed referendum that was originally due to be held in 2011 in which the residents of Abyei would decide either to remain part of the Sudanese South Kordofan region or to become part of the Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan.
Although an unofficial referendum was held in 2013, as of November 2025 no official referendum has been held.
The Abyei Special Administrative Area (Arabic: منطقة أبيي) is an area of 10,546 km or 4,072 sq mi on the border between South Sudan and Sudan that has been accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. The capital of the Abyei Area is Abyei Town. Under the terms of the Abyei Protocol, the Abyei Area is considered, on an interim basis, to be simultaneously part of both the Republic of South Sudan and Republic of Sudan, effectively a condominium.
As part of the 2011 independence process, a separate referendum was to be held in Abyei on whether they wanted to join Sudan or South Sudan; however an official referendum was never held.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA, Arabic: اتفاقية السلام الشامل, romanized: Ittifāqiyyah al-salām al-šāmil), also known as the Naivasha Agreement, was an accord signed on 9 January 2005, by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. The CPA was meant to end the Second Sudanese Civil War, develop democratic governance countrywide, and share oil revenues. It also set a timetable for a Southern Sudanese independence referendum.
The peace process was encouraged by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), in addition to a "troika" of donor countries comprising the United States, United Kingdom, and Norway.
A referendum took place in Southern Sudan from 9 to 15 January 2011, on whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or become independent. The referendum was one of the consequences of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the Khartoum central government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M).
A simultaneous referendum was supposed to be held in Abyei on whether to become part of South Sudan but it was postponed due to conflict over demarcation and residency rights.