[ 2011-09-04 ]

UN 'deeply concerned' about new Sudan conflict
KHARTOUM (AFP) - The United Nations said on Sunday
it is deeply concerned about the latest outbreak
of fighting in Sudan's volatile border region,
where it reported 16,000 people have fled one town
alone.

Georg Charpentier, the UN's chief humanitarian
coordinator for Sudan, was "deeply concerned about
the recent outbreak of fighting in Blue Nile
state" between the Sudanese army and ex-rebel
troops loyal to Sudan's main opposition party, the
SPLM-North, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said
in a statement.

Some 16,000 people -- the entire estimated
population -- were reported to have fled the
flashpoint border town of Kurmuk into neighbouring
Ethiopia since the fighting began, OCHA added.

Clashes erupted in Damazin, the capital of Blue
Nile, early on Friday, and quickly spread to other
parts of the state, after troop build-ups on both
sides.

They also follow warnings that the three-month-old
conflict in nearby South Kordofan, another
ethnically divided border state, was likely to
spill along Sudan's new international frontier
with the south.

The SPLM-North said the army bombed Kurmuk on
Friday, killing two women and a child and
destroying the main water tank, depriving
civilians of drinking water.

The former garrison town was a key battleground in
the devastating decades-long conflict between
Khartoum and the ex-southern rebels which ended
with a peace deal in 2005.

On Sunday, Charpentier urged both sides "to end
the fighting immediately and to seek to resolve
any disputes through peaceful means, to prevent
more loss of life and to enable displaced people
to return to their homes."

Khartoum appears increasingly determined to assert
its authority within its new borders following
South Sudan's formal declaration of independence
on July 9, moving to disarm troops outside its
control.

Source - AFP

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