29 Aug 2009

Ethnic clashes in south Sudan have killed dozens, days after UN peacekeepers in Darfur suggested the war between the Khartoum and rebels was temporarily 'over'.

A military spokesman said Saturday that clashes in the Twic East region of Jonglei state had left at least 43 people, including seven soldiers, dead and dozens more wounded, Press TV correspondent reported.

Other reports indicated that gunmen in conflict-torn western Darfur region had kidnapped two members of the joint UN and African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID).

Major General Kuol Diem Kuol, of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), said the fighting broke out early on Friday, when armed men, reportedly from the Lou Nuer ethnic group, attacked a vulnerable settlement 'to take the cattle, and to loot and steal'.

"There was only a small police force based in Wernyol, and they were soon overrun, but nearby SPLA platoons heard the shooting and rushed to the area," AFP news agency quoted Kuol as saying.

It was not immediately clear how many of the gunmen had died in the gunbattle between some 70 soldiers and the raiders, but Kuol assessed the situation as 'calm', adding that "the SPLA have deployed extra units to ensure security is maintained."

Ethnic conflict over livestock and disputes over basic natural resources such as water as well as retaliatory attacks are common in south Sudan.

The United Nations has put the death toll in clashes in the south at more than 2,000 since January alone.

However, the abduction of the two UNAMID members -- a man and woman -- in Darfur could shatter hopes that the bloody six-year war that according to the UN has killed more than 300,000 people dead had finally come to an end.

Under a peace pact in 2005 between the warring North and South to end Africa's longest-running civil war, the south is set to hold a referendum on self-determination in 2011, after six-years of regional autonomy and partnership in the unity government.

The civil war in Darfur began six years ago, and Khartoum has so far acknowledged only 10,000 deaths, while Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir faces an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
presstv