KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Sudan shelled a disputed border town seized by
South Sudan, a southern military official said Monday, as clashes
spread near the border separating the two nations.
U.S. Ambassador
Susan Rice, the current president of the Security Council, said a
bombardment in South Sudan also hit a U.N. facility but that no U.N.
personnel are thought to be hurt.
Two Sudanese warplanes dropped
"many bombs" Monday on the oil-rich city of Heglig, as long-range
artillery targeted southern army positions in the disputed town, said
southern army spokesman Col. Philip Aguer. He did not give a casualty
figure. He also said Monday that Sudan's air force killed five civilians
in aerial attacks Sunday over Heglig.
Aguer also said that the
town of Bentiu in South Sudan's Unity State was hit and that the
conflict has spread to several southern states bordering Sudan,
including Western Bahr el Ghazal.
He said the rival armies had not yet engaged in physical fighting this week.
"Today
they bombed our positions in Heglig and the oil installations in
Heglig," he said Monday. "We are waiting for them in the killing zone
and they are not coming."
But he said the north's army is now 23
kilometers (some 14 miles) from Heglig, which is claimed by Sudan but
was seized last week by South Sudanese forces in fierce fighting that
southern officials say killed at least 240 Sudanese soldiers and 19
South Sudanese troops.
"We know that Sudanese troops are advancing toward Heglig," he said.
Sudanese officials also claimed Monday to have seized an area sympathetic to South Sudan.
Aguer
said the clashes are a "terrible escalation" of the border conflict
that stretches back before South Sudan broke away from Sudan last year.
Fighting along the north-south border has been near constant over the past two weeks.
U.S. ambassador Rice, speaking to reporters on Monday, condemned the recent strikes.
"The
fact of today's bombardment, which was deep into South Sudan and hit a
U.N. facility, is particularly condemnable and deplorable," she said.
"We understand from press reports that there may be a number of
casualties surrounding the area."
The Sudan Media Center also
reported Monday that Sudan's army took control of Mugum, a stronghold of
the southern army in Blue Nile state, which is near South Sudan's
border.
The government news service quoted an "informed" source of
the command of the 4th Division as saying the division raided Mugum on
Sunday, killed 25 rebels and seized a large quantity of weapons and
equipment.
Fighting erupted in the disputed region of Abyei in May
of last year, just months before South Sudan formally declared
independence.
Rabie Abdelaty, a spokesman for the Khartoum
government, ruled out peace talks with the south, saying it would hurt
national pride if Sudan did not take back Heglig by force. Sudan earlier
this month pulled out of scheduled talks.
"Our people are angry,"
he said Monday. "This is not a time for diplomacy. This is a time for
pushing them and letting them know that they are irresponsible."
He added: "This is war. Our forces want to teach them a lesson."
Some
analysts believe the current round of hostilities will take its full
course before the north and the south can consider coming to the
negotiating table, if at all.
"It's not a senseless war," said
Angelo Izama, a political analyst who runs a Kampala-based think tank on
regional security. "There's unfinished business on both sides. There
cannot be a diplomatic solution to the current hostilities."
Associated Press writers Mohamed Saeed in Khartoum, Sudan and
Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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