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XinhuaKAMPALA, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is consulting his regional counterparts to prevent the situation in Sudan's oil-rich region of Abyei turning into a fully-blown war that would comprise peace efforts in the region, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Henry Okello Oryem, minister of state for international affairs, told Xinhua by telephone that Museveni is consulting with heads of state in the regional body Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on possible ways of defusing the escalating tension between Sudan's south and north over Abyei.

IGAD groups seven countries including Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.

Oryem said Museveni is also consulting with Kenya and Ethiopia that backed a ceasefire agreement signed between the two sides to end a two-decade war in 2005.

Sudan's northern army has in the past days taken control of the disputed oil rich and fertile Abyei region and is clearing it of armed forces from the south.

The south has also denounced as an act of war the takeover of Abyei by the north.

The south is due to become independent in July, but Abyei's status remains to be determined after a referendum on its future was shelved.

The UN has called for an end to fighting between the two sides.

If the conflict is not resolved, it might escalate into war where Uganda would be affected, Oryem said.

During the previous war between the northern and the southern Sudan, Uganda was host to thousands of southern Sudanese refugees.

The two neighboring countries had a diplomatic row when they accused each other of harboring and militarily equipping dissidents.

The Uganda army said they are monitoring the current situation in Abyei and are ready to quell any likely insurgency.

Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, army spokesman, was quoted by the Daily Monitor on Monday as saying that any threats to peace in southern Sudan have a direct impact on the neighboring states.

"We are capable of handling whatever will come out of the conflict," Kulayigye said.

Uganda's notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels oscillate along the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and southern Sudan, causing mayhem including killing and abducting people.

There are fears that if fighting between northern and southern Sudan escalates, the LRA may use the chaos to sneak back into northern Uganda, where it killed tens of thousands of people and made about 2 million people homeless in its over two decades long rebellion.