Sudan, South Sudan say armies clash in border region www.reuters.com Khartoum/ Juba, 07/12/11 - The armed forces of Sudan and South Sudan clashed in a border region claimed by both sides on Wednesday, in a rare direct confrontation between the old civil war foes. Both countries said they would bring complaints against the other to the United Nations, moves likely to hinder already-tense talks over issues such as oil and debt that have been unresolved since South Sudan seceded in July. Sudan's Armed Forces (SAF) bombarded the Jau area with warplanes and used artillery to hit positions of the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), South Sudan's military spokesman Philip Aguer said. ``The SPLA is trying to repulse the attackers, the Sudan Armed Forces,'' he told Reuters. ``The first attack was on Saturday when SAF started invading ... It (Jau) is in South Sudan, there is no dispute about that. Jau is deep in South Sudan.'' Al-Sawarmi Khalid, spokesman for Sudan's military, confirmed the clashes, but said Jau was in Sudanese territory. ``Now the Sudanese army controls the Jau area, which is inside the Republic of Sudan,'' he said. ``South Sudan's army tried to attack six times today. This is an assault on the Sudanese army and Sudanese land.'' Both countries have accused the other of backing rebel groups on either side of the border for months, but the fighting in Jau - which straddles the poorly-defined border - was a rare direct clash. Sudan's foreign ministry spokesman El-Obeid Morawah accused South Sudan of attacking inside Sudanese territory on Tuesday and said the fighting continued into Wednesday, which he described as a violation of Sudan's sovereignty. ``The ministry filed a complaint today to the U.N. Security Council regarding this blatant aggression,'' he said in an emailed statement. South Sudan's foreign affairs spokesman Mathiang Ring also said his country would complain to the Security Council. ``We will say that the government of Sudan has attacked and invaded a piece of land in South Sudan, in Jau. They captured one and killed one soldier,'' he said. ``It is premature to say that the two sides are at war, but the South is now acting in self defence. We will not tolerate aggression by the north.'' Meanwhile, Juba-based The Citizen daily reported on 8 December that SPLA forces have recaptured and now control the areas south of Jau following the 3 December SAF offensive. The paper quotes SPLA Spokesperson Philip Aguer as saying that the SPLA “have overwhelmingly assaulted SAF troops present in the territory with full momentum and determination to expel those war mongers as soon as possible.” He reportedly added that the SPLA is likely to reclaim the whole town “within two days; and other place could be reclaimed too.” He gave no casualty figures but stressed the SPLA is determined to expel SAF from South Sudanese territory through military means. Meanwhile, the Sudan Armed Forces has issued a statement rebuffing claims that the SPLA has regained control of Jau. According to Khartoum-based Al-Rai Al-Aam, the SAF said tha the South Sudan Army had carried out an attempted incursion deep into the Al-Atmoor area yesterday morning – the sixth such attempt. SAF says the South Sudan forces incurred heavy losses in terms of lives and military ware. In a related development, the paper adds that Sudan Foreign Ministry issued a press release yesterday condemning the SPLA incursion into the Buhairat Al-Abyad (Jau) in Southern Kordofan and saying that Sudan has protested these continued aggressions before the Security Council, alongside earlier protests. The ministry said that Sudan maintains the right to respond by all means at its disposal against such aggressions. Students’ body petitions UNMISS over SAF invasion
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
