Release International

The Khartoum government is accused of violating Sudan's peace deal by trying to evict the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) from troubled parts of eastern Sudan.

BBC reports suggest that government troops have been attacking Eastern Front rebels with aircraft and artillery around the town of Hamesh Koreb. Soldiers are also reported to have ordered former rebels from the SPLA to leave the area, in a move interpreted by the SPLA as an 'act of aggression'. The SPLA's Major General Waya Nyipuocs said the order had come from 'heavily armed men backed up by four tanks'. 'It is a violation of the peace agreement and it is very dangerous,' he told Agence France-Presse.

This antagonism between the authorities in Khartoum and former southern rebels comes despite the fact that President al-Bashir's National Congress Party and the political wing of the SPLA signed a power-sharing deal last January. Together they formed a new government of national unity last September.

Hamesh Koreb, which lies 310 miles north-east of Khartoum, was the largest town controlled by the SPLA in eastern Sudan during the civil war. The Sudan Tribune reports that the SPLA was scheduled to withdraw its troops from Hamesh Koreb by January 9 but delayed its exit for 'logistical and technical' reasons.

Khartoum's troops have ignored a deadline to withdraw from southern towns such as Juba. The International Crisis Group, an influential policy group, has described the situation in east Sudan as a 'powder keg' that could spark another war and jeopardise last year's north-south peace deal. Rebels in the Eastern Front claim they are being marginalised in the current political process.

• Pray for greater unity between the different parties which now make up Sudan's new government of national unity. Pray that they would commit to put aside personal ambitions and promote peace for Sudan.
• Pray for an end to conflict in eastern Sudan. Pray that disgruntled eastern rebels would be included in the peace process and have their concerns heard and addressed.

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