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Crisis between Sudan and South Sudan intensifies
SPLA spokesman Col. Philip Aguer said several Sudanese MiG-29 fighter jets bombed the area on Monday and Tuesday. Aguer said several SPLA soldiers were injured in the attack but would not say how many.
“The war is widened,” said South Sudan Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin. “The battle is raging. It is spreading all over.”
Heglig lies along the ill-defined border between the countries and has been the focal point of nearly two weeks of clashes between the armies. The region is home to oil facilities that account for around half of Sudan’s oil production, a critical source of income for the country’s flagging economy.
A 2009 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague placed Heglig in South Kordofan, Sudan. But South Sudan has disputed the ruling, asserting that the region is in South Sudan’s Unity State.
The Khartoum government in the north warned in a Tuesday statement that it will use “all legitimate means” to respond to the alleged aggression. Sudan also said that if South Sudan resorts to war, it would only reap “failure and destruction.”
Aguer said South Sudan’s forces are pushing through the area to prevent further attacks from forces there.
“Our main goal is to secure the territories of South Sudan and protect its people,” said Aguer. “Sudan and its allies, militiamen that have been trained in Heglig and Karsana, have been attacking us from there for last two years.”
