Sudan and the South 'open new front' in border clash BBC News/Reuters 18/4/2012 – Sudan and South Sudan have accused each other of opening up a new front along their disputed border, raising fears of all-out war. The clashes broke out north of Aweil in South Sudan, about 100 miles (160km) west of the Heglig oil field, scene of most recent fighting. Seven South Sudanese soldiers and 15 Sudanese were killed, South Sudan's army spokesman told the BBC. The latest fighting on Tuesday was sparked by the shooting dead of a South Sudanese soldier when he went to collect water on Monday night, South Sudan's army spokesman Col Philip Aguer said. It happened on the road between Aweil and Meiram in Sudan's South Kordofan state, near the disputed Abyei region, at a village known by southerners as Agok and by Khartoum as Bahr al-Arab camp. Sudan's government has not commented but Col Fathi Abdalla Arabi, the mayor of Meiram, confirmed the fighting to the Sudanese Media Center website, which has close links to the government. The difficult history between the two countries cannot be disregarded - and it could prove difficult for both to move away from a mentality of war, our correspondent says. Sudan said it had repulsed an attack on Tuesday by South Sudan's armed forces (SPLA) near the Bahr al-Arab river, known as the Kiir River in the south. "Limited forces from the SPLA carried out an attack on the area to divert the efforts of the armed forces working to liberate the Heglig region," the state-linked Sudanese Media Centre quoted a local military official as saying. The report said the fighting took place 62 km (39 miles) south of Mairem which, maps show, is on the boundary between the Sudanese regions of South Kordofan and Darfur, the scene of a separate insurgency against the Khartoum government. South Sudan's military spokesman Philip Aguer confirmed the clashes took place, but said the SPLA had not tried to enter Sudan's territory. The fighting broke out after southern troops were shelled while trying to collect water, he said. "They reacted, and fighting erupted between them," Aguer said. "Our forces crossed the river, crossed the bridge briefly, but the command recalled them back." In a sign rebel groups in Sudan may be trying to take advantage of the tensions, insurgents based in Darfur said late on Tuesday they had destroyed a Sudanese military base and take control of a town. The reports from a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) loyal to Minni Minnawi - one of the three most prominent rebel groups in the region - could not be independently verified, and Sudan's army spokesman was not immediately available to comment. On another diplomatic front, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir is due to make a state visit to China - a major investor in both Sudan and South Sudan - before the end of the month. South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said Kiir would discuss "strengthening bilateral relations - political, economic, everything" and that the Heglig crisis would also be on the table. "I think they (China) have influence, and so their role is important," he said.
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