Reuters
Sudanese Army soldiers stood guard Thursday in Southern Kordofan, which a 2005 pact granted special status to seek autonomy.
By JOSH KRON
Published: April 14, 2012
MOMBASA, Kenya — Sudan and South Sudan
engaged in a second day of direct military clashes and aerial
bombardments on Saturday in what the South described as a “limited war”
between the two nations that will continue indefinitely “off and on.”
Related
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South Sudan Says It Has Taken Over Disputed Town (April 12, 2012)
A South Sudanese military spokesman said fighting had broken out between
the two armies near the town of Kersana as Sudanese armed forces
advanced to try to retake the Heglig oil fields, which Sudan had
controlled from 2005 until South Sudan captured them on Tuesday.
“This is intense fighting,” said the spokesman, Col. Philip Aguer.
Because the Sudanese government in Khartoum and the Sudan armed forces
“have refused the peaceful demarcation of the border,” he said, “this
kind of conflict will not stop.”
The African Union
called South Sudan’s seizure of Heglig “illegal” last week.
Nevertheless, South Sudan said it would consider marching its armed
forces back into Abyei, another contested area with high symbolic value
for the two nations.
On Saturday, Colonel Aguer said, Sudanese aircraft were heavily
bombarding Heglig and areas up to Kersana, about 20 miles away, and he
warned that the precious oil facilities at Heglig could be destroyed.
After capturing Heglig, South Sudan said it would suspend oil production
there, in line with its policy in a dispute with Sudan on how to share
oil revenue.
Colonel Aguer also said an Antonov bomber — commonly used by the
Sudanese Army in conflict regions like Darfur and the Nuba Mountains —
flew over South Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Friday night.
A Sudanese military spokesman confirmed direct fighting between the two
armies outside Heglig, and said “hundreds” had been killed on both
sides.
“We are advancing on Heglig from the north,” said the spokesman,
Al-Sawarmi Khalid, who added that fighting had moved to an area much
closer to Heglig than Kersana.
But Mr. Khalid denied accusations that an Antonov had flown over Juba,
and said the Sudanese Army was “fighting inside our own country.”
Tensions between Sudan and South Sudan have been brewing since the
South’s independence from Sudan last year, but the military conflict
exploded in a flash in the last week.
After months of an intense dispute over oil, against a backdrop of an
insurgency in Sudan that it accuses South Sudan of supporting, South
Sudan captured Heglig, which it said Sudanese forces had “abandoned.”
From Abyei to the special-status states of Southern Kordofan and Blue
Nile, Sudan’s military has stamped a heavy footprint on regions the two
nations are fighting over.
South Sudan’s capture of Heglig was a return strike, but it said it was
“prepared to withdraw” under certain conditions — including a
demilitarization of the border region. Nevertheless, Sudan said its
forces would soon “liberate” the city, and fighting was reported on
Friday.
“Emergency diplomacy at the highest levels — particularly if Beijing and
Washington work together — could pull the warring parties back from the
brink,” said John Prendergast, director of the Enough Project, an American organization that works to end genocide and crimes against humanity.
But in Juba, at least, the mood was somber. “I think we are headed back
to war,” said a South Sudanese government official, speaking on the
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss such
matters. He added that there was no “quick fix” for the problems between
the countries.
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