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Fighting Erupted in the Oil-Rich Region of Sudan

05-21-2008

Fighting erupted in the oil-rich region of Abyei, between Sudan's army led by the central government and SPLA army from the Southern Sudan State on Tuesday, despite the five day cease fire.

Most of the civilian staff from UN has been pulled out of the small town for security reason.

The U.N. says between 30,000 and 50,000 people have been displaced by the recent fighting. SPLA officials say the town's market and only bank were burned, and the town has been virtually deserted. The number of casualties are difficult to determine because of the continued violence.

SPLA forces approached Abyei early Tuesday morning and began shelling the town, a U.N. official who oversees troops in the area, Ravi Padan, told U.N.-operated Miraya radio. He said the battle lasted three hours before Sudanese soldiers pushed back the former rebels.

Army spokesman Brig. General Osman al-Aghbash said SPLA forces attacked an army camp with heavy weapons including tanks and rockets, "with the intention of taking over the town."

Al-Aghbash told the state-run Sudan News Agency that members of the army were killed in the attack, but did not give a number.

The Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, which Kiir heads, has accused al-Bashir of breaching the 2005 accord by refusing to share oil wealth, failing to pull government troops out of South Sudan, and remilitarizing contested border zones such as Abyei.

Tension has occasionally flared in Abyei, which is claimed by the southerners, but the northern government is reluctant to let go because of its oil fields.

A fragile cease-fire was reached on Thursday, last week and consultations continued to ease the tension. SPLA released two members from the northern ruling party it had captured during the fighting, and the two sides agreed to pull troops from the contested town.

Michael Majar, a southern official from Abyei, said shelling between the two sides resumed early Tuesday and then stopped a few hours later. Sudan currently produces over 500,000 barrels a day and is planning to increase that to one million barrels/day by next year and join the OPEC.