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The UN says all the residents of the Sudanese oil town of Abyei have left due to the recent violence on the border between South and North Sudan.


“Initial patrols around the area of conflict suggest that looting and pillaging have left the town badly damaged and empty,” UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky said on Wednesday.

Nesirky added that no civilian casualties have been reported, according to the UN News Center.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking to the Extraordinary Summit of the African Union on Peace and Security in Africa on Wednesday, said “military confrontation is not an option.”

The UN Mission in Sudan has taken its civilian staff out of the town.

Thousands of Abyei residents have left for neighboring Agok, but the UN has said there are difficulties in dispatching aid to Agok because of insecurity.

Meanwhile, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said on Tuesday, "Abyei is northern Sudanese land," and stated that the North would not withdraw its forces from the district.

The South voted to secede from the North in January in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005. The South's formal declaration of independence will be announced on July 9.

The 2005 deal ended more than two decades of civil war between the South and the North.

The agreement had left the future of Abyei to the local residents, who were supposed to be allowed to hold a referendum to decide whether to join the South or the North.

However, no progress has been made on the issue since the two sides have not been able to reach an agreement on the qualifications for voters.