Sudan army clashes with rebels in border oil state
Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:34pm GMT
* Both sides claim victory in clashes
* Fighting has complicated talks with South Sudan
KHARTOUM, June 21 (Reuters) - Sudan's armed forces clashed with rebels in
the oil-producing border state of South Kordofan, the two sides said on
Thursday, both claiming victory over the other.
Violence has racked Sudan's border regions with South Sudan since around the
time the southern nation seceded a year ago under a 2005 peace deal that
ended decades of civil war.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in South Kordofan and
nearby Blue Nile state since the fighting broke out, the United Nations has
said.
Aid groups have warned of a large scale humanitarian disaster in the two
states as food stocks dwindle - something Khartoum denies.
Rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said they
"liberated" El Faragil, a village west of Delling - one of the largest towns
in South Kordofan - on Wednesday.
In a statement, the insurgents said they inflicted "heavy losses" on
government forces and captured weapons and other military equipment.
Sudan's armed forces spokesman, Al-Sawarmi Khalid, said the rebels had
actually lost the battle.
"What happened was that our forces defeated the (SPLM-N) forces and evicted
them from the mountains in the El Faragil area," he said, adding the clashes
had taken place over the last two days.
Both sides often make conflicting statements which are difficult to verify
independently because of the remoteness of the region and limits on access.
The SPLM-N fighters in South Kordofan are among tens of thousands who sided
with the South against Khartoum during Sudan's civil war, but were left
north of the border under the peace pact.
Last year, the insurgents formed an alliance with other rebels in Sudan's
western Darfur region with the aim of toppling the government of President
Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
The rebels say their border regions have been left underdeveloped and
marginalised by an Arab elite in Khartoum. Khartoum has said it is
determined to restore order to the territories and accuses its old foe South
Sudan of backing the insurgents.
Khartoum and Juba have traded accusations over support for rebels on one
another's territory, complicating already-fraught talks over an array of
unresolved partition-related issues.
The two countries were expected to resume African Union-brokered security
talks in Addis Ababa on Thursday. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz and
Alexander Dziadosz; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Andrew
Heavens)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Thu Jun 21 2012 - 14:48:27 EDT
