Sudan: North accused of provoking clashes with South
Mar 18 2008
Postings >> Sudan

Northern Sudan has again been accused of provoking clashes with southerners to try to delay a decision on the north-south border demarcation.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which governs southern Sudan, claims that the north is backing Arab militias who are engaging southern troops in regular skirmishes in the oil-rich border area.

Up to 70 Arab Misseriya tribesmen were killed in their latest clash with southern troops, this time in Northern Bahr El Ghazal, west of Abyei, says the BBC. Six soldiers also died.

Observers warn that the region is a potential flashpoint for renewed conflict between north and south and that recent violence could undermine the north-south peace deal. The 2005 accord ended decades of civil war which pitted the Arab and Muslim north of Sudan against the south, which is Christian or animist. But a key issue – how Sudan’s oil fields should be allocated – remains a stumbling block.

While the SPLM accuses the Misseriya of provoking the conflict, the tribesmen said they were acting in retaliation for an attack by southern troops the previous week.

Elsewhere, efforts to 'build the peace' continue, albeit haltingly. A fresh operation is underway to free southern Sudanese abducted by Arabs from the north during the civil war.

The SPLM has given $1 million to a Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children, which aims to free 1,200 people in its latest initiative, the BBC reports. The committee insists that money is used to pay for food, clothes and shelter for liberated slaves, not to pay ransoms.

Seven people were freed in South Darfur, western Sudan, this month and are waiting in a transit camp in the state capital Nyala before they can be transported home.

* Pray that decision-makers on all sides will work harder to 'build the peace' in Sudan and resolve disputed issues such as the north-south border.

* Thank God for efforts to reunited southern families torn apart by the civil war.