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| Africa Horn |
| Fighting in contested Sudan border kills 12 |
| 2011-05-06 |
| [Arab News] Renewed fighting in Sudan's most contested border region has left at least 12 people dead, and the top government official in the area said Wednesday he feared more attacks in the weeks leading up to Southern Sudan's independence in July. Deng Arop Kuol, the chief administrator of Abyei, said that a northern Sudanese army convoy was stopped at a police checkpoint on Sunday while attempting to move south through the area without permission from his government. Southern Sudan voted in January to secede from the north, and is set to become a new nation in only 10 weeks. The independence referendum was part of a peace deal to end more than two decades of war that left at least 2 million dead. However, The didactic However... the issue of whether the Abyei region will be in the north or the south remains undecided, and analysts fear the dispute could spark further unrest. Sudanese President Omar Bashir recently threatened he would not recognize the new southern nation if it includes Abyei. Attacks in the area already have left more than 100 dead, and the United Nations ...a diplomatic initiative trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... says about 20,000 people decamped Abyei town in early March because of the violence. Southern officials have blamed the attacks on the northern military, which has denied any involvement. In the latest unrest, Kuol said at least 12 people were killed. However, The didactic However... the UN said it found 14 dead bodies at the site of the clash, 11 of them in uniforms from the joint military force made up of members from both the north and south. Members of the convoy identified themselves as members of that joint military force. Kuol, though said they were accompanied by Sudanese Armed Forces from the north and should not have been moving south without explicit permission from his government. The joint forces were created by a 2005 peace deal, but they have often fought against one another since the deal was signed. Kuol told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named he fears the northern forces are seeking to occupy the Abyei area. "Right now we are expecting all-out attacks from the side of the SAF on the Abyei area," he said. "They are amassing their troops so we will not rule out an attack (at) any time." A satellite monitoring project backed by actor and activist George Clooney has released images in recent months documenting military build-up by both sides in Abyei. The images also have shown the destruction of homes and whole villages in attacks. The UN's humanitarian coordinator for Southern Sudan said last month that 800 people have died and 94,000 more have been displaced in violence in the south so far this year. Fighting has further escalated since then between the southern army and a host of rebel movements active in oil-producing zones across the south. |
| Posted by:Fred |