---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Sun, May 22, 2011 at 10:48 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: North Sudan army seizes Abyei To: Group <[email protected]>
1. North Sudan army takes control of border town Abyei BBC 21 May 2011 Last updated at 22:40 GMT The northern Sudanese Army says it has taken control of Abyei, a contested area on the border with South Sudan. Sudanese state television, based in Khartoum, said northern troops had "repelled enemy forces" in Abyei town. UN officials confirmed the development. The move follows three days of clashes between northern and southern forces in the area. The dispute over the oil-rich region is seen as a possible trigger for a new north-south civil war. South Sudan is due to become independent in July, but Abyei is still claimed by both sides. The BBC's James Copnall in Khartoum says the key question is whether the fighting is now over or whether a new civil war is about to begin. "The SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) have entered Abyei," said Philip Aguer, spokesman for the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels. "There is still fighting but they have come with tanks, they are shooting and shooting." Continue reading the main story A UN official told AFP news agency: "The SAF have taken the town, it is a major development." A UN Security Council delegation is currently in Sudan and is due to visit Abyei on Monday. Our correspondent says it now faces an even more worrying situation than it could have anticipated. The latest clashes began on Thursday after the northern army said 22 of its men were killed in a southern ambush. The UN said the northern troops who were ambushed were being escorted out of Abyei by UN peacekeepers. UN officials described the incident as "a criminal attack" and the US called on South Sudan to "account" for the assault. Washington said the attack was "in direct violation" of the agreement signed by the north and south in January to "remove all unauthorised forces" from Abyei. South Sudanese forces denied responsibility for the incident. However, the north warned it was prepared to retaliate, and then did so with artillery fire and greater military strength than the southerners could muster. Abyei is claimed by a southern group, the Dinka Ngok, and northern nomads, the Misseriya. Analysts have predicted that the dispute between the two groups has the potential to drag in the northern and southern armies. Analysis James Copnall BBC News, Khartoum This is a convincing northern military victory, making use of its greater resources. The key question now is whether the North has, in seizing Abyei, fulfilled its objective. A northern General, Ahmed Abdalla, told the BBC his men would go up to the river at the south of the region of Abyei. If this is the case, the North will have de facto control over Abyei. But southerners must be nervous that this is the start of a larger attack. Some of the South's most valuable oil fields are just over the border from Abyei. The UN Security Council is in Sudan, and will surely make it clear no-one wants a new north-south war. But these are dangerous times in Sudan. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13487864 END1 2. U.S. condemns Sudan army’s takeover of Abyei and dissolution of council May 21, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The United States on Saturday rebuked the Sudanese government over its army’s move on the disputed border region of Abyei which elevated fears of a full-scale war between the North and South. Sudan state TV quoted an unidentified military source as saying that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) managed to take over Abyei and inflicted heavy losses on the "enemy". "The SAF reached the town of Abyei by sunset and tightened control over it and drove enemy forces to the South," the source said. Prior to that the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir issued two simultaneous decrees dissolving the Abyei’s administrative council and firing its head, his VP and the directors of the five departments within the body. The United States deplored today’s moves saying that it "condemns the offensive operations being undertaken by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in and around Abyei town and today’s presidential decree dissolving the Abyei Administration". A White House statement called on SAF "to immediately cease all offensive operations in Abyei and withdraw its forces from Abyei." "Failure to do so could set back the process of normalizing relations between Sudan and the United States and inhibit the international community’s ability to move forward on issues critical to Sudan’s future. The actions being taken by the government of Sudan are blatant violations of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and threaten to undermine the mutual commitment of the CPA parties to avoid a return to war ". Today’s escalation comes on the heels of an attack that took place near Abyei on Thursday which targeted an SAF convoy that was pulling out of the area with an escort from the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). The Sudanese government said that 22 SAF soldiers were killed and scores were still missing in the attack that they blamed on the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA). UNMIS condemned the assault but declined to point finger at the party behind the attack. SAF has said at the time that it reserves the right to respond "in the right time and place". Abyei was scheduled to hold a referendum last January on whether to be part of the North or an independent South but it was put on hold after both sides failed to agree on who would be eligible to vote. The SPLA confirmed an SAF offensive on the contested region since Friday. "The Sudan Armed Forces attacked four villages on Friday and it again attacked five other villages on Saturday, today. These attacks have claimed lives of local innocent civilians. Some of them were bombed. Others were killed in the cross fire staged by advancing ground forces of the Sudan Armed forces", said SPLA spokesperson Colonel Phillip Aguer Panyang. Ngor Aguot, a Sudan Tribune reporter in Abyei said he saw warplanes dropping bombs at four different locations in the region on Friday and Saturday. The acting head of the SPLM in Abyei, Juac Agok said the aircrafts were military assets of the SAF. "It is the Sudanese government in Khartoum and its armed forces which owns war planes it uses to bomb her citizens. They have resumed air attack today in Abyei in five other different villages. They bombed Mabok, they bombed Alal, and they again bombed Todac which they bombed yesterday", explained Agok. Marial Benjamin Bil, minister of information in the of government of South Sudan (GoSS), said in a telephone interview with Sudan Tribune on Saturday from Juba that he received reports from Abyei that SAF have once again bombed the area today. "There are reports from Abyei that the Sudan Armed Forces have once again bombed the area today. They have bombed five other different villages today. A village called Alal, Mabok and Todach which they bombed yesterday were again bombed", said Bil. The minister said the Sudan Armed Forces used long range artilleries for launching attacks and used other heavy weapons and tanks in the ground attacks. He also slammed Bashir’s decrees saying it violated the CPA and was not made in consultation with GoSS chief Salva Kiir. UNMIS leadership decided to raise security levels in Abyei to a red. The new security level restricts movement of its staff members outside the camp. It requires them to stay either inside their offices, accommodation or any area identified as safe. "In the view of prevailing security situation, the alert state is elevated to red. All movement outside UNMIS camp is restricted until further notice. All the staff members are advised to stay either inside their offices, accommodation, or safe area and avoid roaming about. Should the siren be sounded all staff must immediately proceed to the bunkers", reads part of the UNMIS statement extended to Sudan Tribune. Sudan Tribune reporter said that SAF entered Abyei around 8 pm and said he was locked in a UN compound surrounded by 15 tanks. "We are in a state of captivity respecting orders and any other instructions so many of us did not eat. There is no food. We do not move and do not receive or makes phone calls. Our fate is at the mercy of the Sudan Armed Forces with whom United Nations is negotiating" he said via email. The North and South are supposed to have withdrawn all of their forces from Abyei by this week except for a special joint force made up of units from both sides in accordance with an agreement they signed earlier this year. A visiting United Nations Security Council (UNSC) delegation has also reportedly cancelled a planned visit to Abyei as a result of the ongoing clashes. However, a meeting was arranged between the council members and representatives of the Misseriya’s and the Dinka Ngok tribes who are the main residents of Abyei. (ST) END2 3. North Sudan takes control key town in Abyei Sat May 21, 2011 10:32pm GMT * Khartoum controls key town in Abyei, both sides say * Oil-rich and fertile region disputed by north and south By Ulf Laessing KHARTOUM, May 21 (Reuters) - North Sudanese army forces took control of the main town of the disputed Abyei region on Saturday after fighting with southern forces, both sides said, in further violence ahead of southern secession. Southerners voted in January to become independent on July 9 in a referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal, but violence has escalated in recent days in Abyei, the main outstanding dispute between the two sides in the run-up to secession. "Enemy forces" had been expelled to the south, Khartoum-based Sudanese state television said in a news bulletin after fighting was reported throughout the day in Abyei, which has oil and fertile grazing land. The United Nations said the northern army had deployed 15 tanks alone in one area in Abyei town, where gunshots could be heard until fighting appeared to subside for the night, spokeswoman U.N. Hua Jiang said. Another U.N. official said the end of fighting before midnight indicated the north appeared to be in control of Abyei town though the official confirmation would have to wait until patrols could take a look. In another telling sign, Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir removed the two heads of the Abyei administration and dissolved the region's administrative council, state news agency SUNA said. It gave no explanation. The southern army acknowledged northern forces controlled the main town. "Abyei town is now under control of the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces). They came with tanks," said SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer. He said northern aircraft had also bombed from the air and shelled at least four villages, among them Todach and Tagalei, which he said had been already hit on Friday. [ID:nLAE985166] Abyei residents were also meant to have a referendum in January over whether to join the North or the South. Disputes over who could vote derailed that ballot and talks over the status of the region have stalled. North and South have also yet to agree how to share oil revenues and other assets prior to the breakup. ESCALATING VIOLENCE The latest violence came a day before a U.N. Security Council delegation was due to hold talks with the Khartoum government over Abyei. U.N. spokeswoman Jiang said she could not officially confirm northern forces were in control of Abyei town because U.N. staff could not go out because of the security situation. But gunshots had been heard there in the evening and three mortars had landed inside a U.N. camp, though there were no casualties, she added. Tensions escalated after the north accused the SPLA of attacking a convoy of Sudanese soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers in Dokura north of Abyei town late on Thursday. The SPLA denied responsibility for the attack, which the United Nations said had taken place on a convoy of northern troops escorted by U.N. peacekeepers under a deal for both sides to withdraw forces from the disputed territory. The North and South are supposed to have withdrawn all of their forces from Abyei by this week except for a special joint force made up of units from both sides. The mainly Muslim North and the South, where most people are Christian or hold traditional beliefs, fought for decades in a civil war that killed an estimated 2 million people. The war ended with a 2005 peace deal that led to the referendum on southern independence but the sides continue to clash over Abyei, which also contains fertile grazing land. Earlier this month, at least 14 people were killed in clashes between northern and southern forces in Abyei. Both sides blamed each other for starting the violence. Last month, Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said he would not recognise the South's independence unless it gave up a claim on Abyei made in the south's draft constitution. (Additional reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Jon Boyle) http://af.reuters.com/article/sudanNews/idAFLAE17185520110521?sp=true END3 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor Sudan Ecumenical Forum [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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