North Sudanese troops seize contested town

Southern Sudan army describes attack on disputed Abyei as an act of war and urges UN mission to protect town’s population North Sudanese troops have seized the contested town of Abyei, increasing fears of conflict as the south Sudan prepares to become the world’s newest country. Northern forces took the town after two days of aerial bombardment and mortar fire which forced the population to flee. A spokesman for the southern army described the attack as an act of war. “We didn’t declare war,” said an army spokesman, Colonel Philip Aguer. “The National Congress party [Sudan's ruling party] and the Sudan armed forces declared war on us.” Aguer called for the UN mission in Sudan to protect the people of Abyei, claiming the northern government intended to “displace civilians and commit human rights violations as they did in Darfur”. The escalation of violence at the most volatile spot along Sudan’s contested north-south border comes against the backdrop of a four-day visit by the UN security council to Sudan. Southern Sudan will become independent on 9 July and the UN has expressed concerns about recent violence there and at several locations across the contested border region. Sudanese state television, based in Khartoum, said “enemy forces” had been expelled, and the state news agency Suna reported that Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, had removed the two leaders of the Abyei administration and dissolved the region’s administrative council. The UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan issued a statement on Saturday calling for the immediate cessation of hostilities in Abyei and urging the north and south to protect civilians in areas where fighting may be ongoing. Southern Sudan’s independence, approved overwhelmingly in a referendum in January, is less than two months away and Abyei’s future is the most important outstanding issue remaining to be settled between north and south. Sudan Africa guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.