Sudan says 22 soldiers killed in Abyei ambush, as local officials
denounce air and ground attacks
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May 20, 2011 (ABYEI/KHARTOUM) – North Sudan army announced that 22 of
its soldiers were killed in an attack carried against its troops in
the contested area of Abyei and accused Southern Sudanese army of
being behind it.
JPEG - 15.9 kb
Deputy of Sudanese Army Intelligence Sidiq Aamir Hassan (R) speaks
during a joint news conference with northern military spokesman
Al-Sawarmi Khaled in Khartoum May 20, 2011 (Reuters Pictures)
In Abyei, local officials said northern army launched heavy ground and
air attacks on the position of southern troops during the day but not
figures were available about the human or material losses.
In a press conference held at the Khartoum-based Ministry of Defense
on Friday, the deputy chief of staff at the Sudanese Armed Forces’
(SAF) department of intelligence and security, Brig-Gen Sidiq Aamir,
restated earlier claims that forces of Sudan People’s Liberation Army
(SPLA), South Sudan army, on Thursday evening ambushed and opened fire
on 200 SAF troops s as they were moving outside of Abyei in
implementation of Kadugli agreement.
South Sudan, which voted earlier this year to secede in July, signed a
security accord with the north in the South Kordofan capital city of
Kadugli last January to withdraw all forces from Abyei except the
special Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) of Northern and Southern
personnel, both army and police, alongside UN peacekeepers.
According to Sidiq Aamir, the assailed SAF troopers, which form part
of the JIUs, were being escorted by peacekeeping forces of the UN
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) on board of six vehicles when the attack
occurred.
He further announced that SAF started this morning a massive operation
to evacuate the wounded soldiers, going on to pour scorn on UNMIS
statement that it could not determine the identity of the attackers.
"The international mission knows too well that there are no unknown
forces in the area, in Abyei there is no one except JIU and SPLA
forces," he was quoted by the pro-government website Sudan Media
Center (SMC).
SAF deputy chief of intelligence stressed that the army would not
remain silent in the face of this aggression and reserves the right to
respond at the appropriate time and place.
"Abyei is a war zone in the true sense of the word…there is gunfire
and burning of forests," he declared.
According to Sidiq Aamir, 22 Sudanese army soldiers were killed in the
attack while dozens remain missing, adding that only four vehicles
carrying three soldiers survived the attack while three vehicles had
gone missing.
He, however, said that north Sudan remains committed to the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and would not respond to
provocations by SPLA.
Similarly in Khartoum, Sudan’s ministry of foreign affairs on Friday
summoned the chief of UNMIS, Haile Menkerios, and reported to him
details of Abyei attack.
The state minister for foreign affairs, Salah Al-din Wansi, said that
the attack represents a "clear breach" of the CPA and it was the
second of its kind in the SPLM’s “chain of CPA violations".
Meanwhile, the administration of the oil-producing region of Abyei on
Friday accused SAF of launching concurrently aerial and ground
attacks.
"The Sudan Armed forces are launching concurrent attacks to take the
area. They have been bombarding the area the whole of today to
reinforce advancing ground forces. They have taken Marial Achak this
afternoon after bombing", said Juac Agok, acting head of the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the area.
Agok said that SAF ground forces overran the local police in Marial
Achak after bombing five other different places in the area, resulting
into significant loss of lives and properties of the local people.
"Some people were killed and other sustained severe injuries, said
Agok explaining that ground forces of the Sudan Armed forces were
using heavy artilleries mounted on vehicles and tanks against local
police using only the outdated Russian made Kalashnikovs. The Sudan
Armed forces overran an outpost of local police in Marial Achak and
took the area because they were well armed".
"I am told they were using heavy artilleries mounted on designated
military vehicles accompanied by tanks. The local police had nothing
apart from Kalashnikovs. They had no heavy artilleries. They had no
vehicles. They had no reinforcement. They had nothing at all",
explained the seemingly angered senior official of the South Sudan’s
ruling party.
He named Todac, Tajalei, Maker Abior, Noong, and Banthon Bridge south
of Abyei to have been areas bombed by a gunship identified as
belonging to the Sudan armed forces. "There is nobody owning warplanes
in Sudan. It is the government of Sudan and its army. It is the Sudan
Armed forces that own planes. They have bombed Maker Abior, Todac,
Tajalei, Noong, Banthon Bridge and even Marial Achak before taking it
today", explained Agok.
Kouider Zerrouk, official spokesperson of the United Nations Mission
in Sudan (UNMIS), in a separate interview with Sudan Tribune, from
Khartoum, confirmed aerial bombardment to have taken place south of
Abyei.
"Yes, we are told a plane bombed today. It dropped two bombs near a
bridge located south of Abyei town today", said Zerrouk, spokesperson
of the united Nations Mission in Sudan.
He offered no comments on ground attacks involving two armed forces in
the east and north of Abyei on 20 May 2011, but confirmed an attack
against its convoy on 19 May in Abyei, saying the incident took place
at around 18h30 in Dokura, an area controlled by the Southern Sudan
Police Services (SSPS), approximately 10 kilometers north of Abyei
town.
"At the time of the attack, the convoy was transporting 200 troops of
Joint Integrated Units of the Sudan Armed Forces to their designated
post, as part of the deployment plan of the Kadugli Agreements, which
had been agreed to by all parties".
"This act constitutes a serious breach of previous agreements made
between the two parties. It is also a criminal attack against the UN.
UNMIS calls on the parties to immediately investigate the incident and
take appropriate action against the perpetrators of this deliberate
attack", reads part of the statement obtained Sudan Tribune.
The mission official was keen to remind the parties of their
responsibility to protect civilians in the area and that the mission
remains ready to continue to assist the parties in the implementation
of the Kadugli Agreement and urge them to do everything possible to
stay on course in the implementation of this agreement and avoid any
actions that could derail it.
The escalation of security situation in Abyei comes two days ahead of
an expected visit by a delegation of the UN Security Council’s members
to the region. Acuil Akol Miyen, a minister of finance with Abyei
administration said on Thursday that it has official information that
15 members of the Security Council will be in the area by Monday 23,
May 2011.
Abyei, whose ownership is claimed by both north and south Sudan, has
seen several spells of deadly fighting since a referendum to decide
the area’s status failed to take place as planned in January due to
disagreements between north and south Sudan over who can vote.
The status of the oil-producing region remains one of the major points
of contention in the implementation of the CPA, which in 2005 ended
nearly half a century of intermittent civil wars between north and
south Sudan.
(ST)
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