KHARTOUM (AFP) — Sudan's flashpoint oil district of Abyei was reportedly calm on Wednesday a day after 22 government troops died in fighting with southern former rebels which threatened a fragile peace process.
Tuesday's clashes prompted a truce call from UN chief Ban Ki-moon, while the US State Department said it was seeking ways to help end the outburst of heavy fighting that could sink a 2005 peace agreement.
Brigadier General Muntasir Sabier, commander of government troops in Abyei, told AFP by telephone on Wednesday that 22 of his soldiers had been killed and 45 wounded, and that "the situation today is very quiet."
Sabier said that the southern former rebels --- the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) which fought a two-decade civil war with Khartoum before the 2005 peace deal was signed -- had suffered many more losses.
The UN said unchecked deterioration in Abyei -- whose estimated half a billion dollar oil wealth is claimed by both Sudan's Arab north and Christian and animist south -- could undermine the entire peace process.
Ban's office in New York said the UN secretary general was deeply concerned.
Ban had urged "both parties to immediately observe the terms of the ceasefire agreed ... on 18 May," and said "there can be no military solution to the parties' differences over Abyei."
In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to her African affairs expert Jendayi Frazer "to see how we might be helpful in resolving one of these final pieces of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement," a spokesman said.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) gave the south a six-year transition period of regional autonomy and participation in a national unity government until a 2011 referendum on independence.
In 2011, Abyei will also hold a separate referendum on whether to retain its special administrative status in the north or join the south.
Impasse over Abyei has been one issue delaying implementation of the peace deal. Without resolution, the fighting could sink the agreement, analysts say.
Local aid workers said fighting lasted for at least five hours between government troops and southern ex-rebels.
Violence began when SPLA forces attacked Abyei which had been under government military control.
The Sudanese army said that despite sustaining casualties it repulsed the attack.
Fears are rising of a possible counter-attack on Agok, 25 kilometres (15 miles) to the south where UN agencies and aid workers are distributing food to some of the 30,000 to 50,000 people displaced by fighting in Abyei last week.
The United Nations last week evacuated its entire civilian staff from the town following fighting between government forces and the SPLA.
The entire civilian population in the town and outlying areas -- a mixture of Arab and Ngok Dinka tribesmen -- also fled.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
