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Crisis between Sudan and South Sudan intensifies
Troops from South Sudan moved into an oil-rich border town claimed by Sudan as fighting intensified between the countries over who controls the area, officials said Wednesday. A South Sudan official said the fighting is “spreading all over.”
The two sides fought a civil war that lasted decades, and any increase in sporadic border clashes raises the risk of a return to all-out war.
Sudanese army spokesman Col. Sawarmy Khaled told the official Radio Omdurman that the South’s army attacked the border oil town of Heglig twice in the past 24 hours. Heglig is located about 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the east of the disputed region of Abyei, whose fate was left unresolved when South Sudan split last year from Sudan.
South Sudan officials would not confirm whether their troops are in control of the oil fields.
“Fierce battles are still going on and the situation has not yet been resolved,” said Khaled, promising the Sudanese people their side will be victorious.
Hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan have grown in recent months, even as the south has said it is trying to avoid a return to war. The two sides never reached a deal to share the oil resources in the region or the exact location of the border, adding to the tensions.
South Sudan’s army — the SPLA — said it moved into Heglig on Tuesday after repelling an attack launched by Sudanese Armed Forces against an SPLA position near the border town of Teshwin.
