20110205
reuters

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - At least 20 people died in a shootout between Sudanese soldiers in a southern town, the military said, warning there was a risk of more clashes as the country divided its forces before the south becomes independent.

Fighting with mortars and heavy machineguns broke out in Malakal on Thursday and again on Friday when part of a military unit refused to redeploy with its weapons to the north -- part of a separation of forces before the secession of south Sudan.

An overwhelming majority of people from the oil-producing south voted to split from the north in a referendum in January, according to preliminary results released this week.

The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended a decades-long civil war between north and south that also set southern tribe against southern tribe, in internal conflicts that have left deep scars.

Northern and southern leaders still have to finalise how they will share out military hardware and security forces -- as well as oil revenues and debts -- before the south's departure, expected on July 9. Many fear tensions could re-emerge during the negotiations.

"This morning the number of dead (in Malakal) has risen to 20, and this could change at any moment. Searches are continuing and many are wounded ... Both sides were firing mortars and heavy machineguns," said southern army spokesman Philip Aguer.

The dead included two children and a Sudanese driver for the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR, officials said on Friday.

Malakal is currently patrolled by a combined military unit made up of the north's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a force the U.N. said was in the process of splitting up before the south's independence.