The impending civil war in Sudan became closer to a reality last week. Both North Sudan and South Sudan have deployed forces with heavy weapons to the disputed region of Abyei, according to the U.N. peacekeeping mission‘s force commander.
These comments were the first independent confirmation of satellite images that activists have pointed to in the past week. The satellite images have shown that both sides are building up troops in Abyei, a central oil producing region that have been claimed by both sides.
“We have evidence that both sides have militarized Abyei,” Moses Obi told reporters. “We’ve seen all sorts of armed elements in Abyei that ordinarily are not supposed to be there,” he added. He added that forces from both north and south were carrying weapons like rocket-propelled grenades, Browning machine guns loaded onto vehicles and multi-barrelled rocket launchers.
Experts fear that Abyei, which has witnessed multiple clashes since a north-south peace deal in 2005, could spark renewed conflict in the African country that has seen a bloody civil war that lasted for 50 years and killed over 2 million. Also part of the 2005 peace accord was an independence referendum. This past January, South Sudan voted to secede from the country and form a new nation. The south is expected to secede in July; however the two sides still must negotiate a settlement on border disputes and how to divide Sudan’s oil industry and national debt. The southern part of the country has 75 percent of the country’s 500,000 bpd of oil production. Abyei is the most protracted dispute in the July secession with both sides laying claim to the region.
Obi said soldiers from both armies were deployed near enough to Abyei to be dragged into any escalation of hostilities there. “This is quite worrying. There have been deaths, there have been displacements, and if the stalemate continues politically the risk of confrontation remains and it could escalate.”
Obi, who commands the 10,000-strong peacekeeping mission in Africa‘s largest country, said both sides agreed in principle that joint north-south forces should be the only troops in Abyei. But he said a political solution would be the only way to preserve peace in the tense region.
On The Web
- Sudan community thrilled to have new envoy (thecable.foreignpolicy.com)
- Women Flee in Fear As Sudanese Fight over Border (waronterrornews.typepad.com)
