20120509
AFP
Sudanese war planes have launched renewed air strikes against South Sudan, violating a UN Security Council resolution to end weeks of a bitter border conflict, the South's army said Wednesday.
"The Republic of Sudan has been randomly bombarding civilian areas," said Southern army spokesman Kella Kueth, who said the air strikes hit the border states of Upper Nile, Unity and Western Bahr el-Ghazal on Monday and Tuesday.
It was not possible to independently confirm the reports of bombing, and Sudan has repeatedly denied it has bombed the South.
"The people of Khartoum, they just deny," Kueth said, adding that both fighter jets and Antonov airplanes carried the air raids.
Both sides say they are complying with a United Nations Security Council resolution which ordered them to stop fighting from last Friday, after international concern the rivals could return to all out war.
A border war with South Sudan began in late March, escalating with waves of Sudanese air strikes against South Sudanese territory and the South's 10-day seizure of the Heglig oil field from Khartoum's army.
The South's army confirmed it had pulled back 10 kilometres (six miles) south of the contested border line, in accordance with the UN deadline Wednesday to do so.
"Yes, we have done so... but we are focusing on the bombing," Kueth added.
The UN resolution threatens additional non-military sanctions if either side fails to meet its conditions, including ordering Sudan to halt air strikes.
The reported attacks come as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay visits South Sudan to discuss the protection of civilians affected by the border fighting.
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