Abyei living up to its billing
A clash between the armies of northern and southern Sudan was reported in the Abyei district along the disputed border between the North and the South. Here, a South Sudanese soldier stands guard outside a cultural center in Juba.
Abyei, a district in Sudan’s middle belt, has been widely billed as the flashpoint in long-troubled north-south relations. It is living up to expectations.
On Tuesday it emerged that northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF, commanded from Khartoum) and southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA, commanded from Juba) had clashed over the weekend.
A local administrator, appointed by the southern government, said that 12 people had died while a United Nations spokesman said the figure was 14 killed.
As ever in these deadly incidents each side blamed the other. Southern officials claimed that a convoy of northern army vehicles entered illegally from the north while northern officials insisted that the convoy was legitimate and only returned fire when attacked.
A referendum in January paved the way for the division of Sudan this July so that southern Sudan becomes an independent state. But Abyei remains contested and claimed by both sides. Not surprisingly, Abyei has close proximity to oil fields.
Hollywood star George Clooney’s Satellite Sentinel project has repeatedly warned of forces massing on the edge of Abyei as well as a military build-up inside Abyei by both sides, which represents a violation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement by the North and the South.
the edge
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