KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Sudan's president threatened Wednesday to
topple his rival government to the south, harsh words that could
escalate the conflict between the two nations as they intensify clashes
over their shared border.
As the international community pushed
for a peaceful solution to the dispute, Sudanese President Omar
al-Bashir vowed to "liberate" the people of South Sudan, saying it was
his country's duty to them.
South Sudan broke away from Sudan in
July after decades of civil war, creating the world's newest country.
But the two never agreed on how to share the oil wealth found in the
region between the countries, and the border was never fully demarcated
.
Fighting
has intensified in the last several weeks amid fears the two sides
could return to an all-out war. On Tuesday, soldiers from Sudan and
South Sudan clashed at a river dividing their two countries, leaving 22
dead as fighting spread to a new area of the tense border.
The
river battle comes amid wider violence along the shared border around
the oil town of Heglig, which South Sudan troops took control of last
week. Sudanese aircraft have been bombing South Sudan's Unity State as a
part of that fighting.
Speaking to young members of his ruling
party in Khartoum late Wednesday, the Sudanese president accused the
ruling South Sudan People's Liberation Movement and its army of
implementing an "external" agenda that don't serve its own people.
Al-Bashir accused Juba of trying to topple his government and vowed to retaliate.
"This
situation makes it imperative upon Sudan to confront the challenge of
the State of South Sudan to topple the government in Khartoum by working
to liberate the Southern nationals," from the southern ruling party, he
said.
Al-Bashir is known for his tough rhetoric. His troops were
surprised by the capture of the oil-rich town and have vowed to reclaim
it, but his government also is using diplomatic channels to try to
resolve the issue.
Mustafa Osman Ismail, a top adviser to
al-Bashir, warned South Sudan that it must immediately withdraw from
Heglig or face counterattacks. Ismail spoke in Ethiopia's capital, where
he met with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and African Union officials.
He
said the trip was intended to "ask those with influence" to persuade
South Sudan to withdraw from Heglig. Ismail said al-Bashir called
several heads of state and sent his foreign minister to South Africa to
work on the issue.
"Time is running short, and our army is also getting ready," said Ismail.
He
said Khartoum is under pressure from Sudan's public to liberate "the
invaded territory" after South Sudan TV broadcast images of what he said
are medical staff captured in Heglig.
Al-Bashir said it is the
responsibility of his government to rid the southerners from the ruling
party in the south, The Sudan People's Liberation Movement, because it
was his government that helped them seize power.
"It was we who
have contributed to empowering the SPLM in the South and therefore we
are responsible before our people in the South to correct the mistake we
have committed," he said.
African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki
urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take action to stop the
fighting between Sudan and South Sudan, warning that both sides are
locked in a "logic of war" with hardliners increasingly in control.
Security
Council members promised to urgently discuss the crisis, including the
possibility of sanctions, said U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, the current
Security Council president. She briefed reporters about the former South
African president's closed discussion with the council via
videoconference.
Rice said Mbeki told the council that Khartoum
believes South Sudan is seeking regime change in its northern neighbor
"and that if that is the case, then the objective of Khartoum would also
be regime change" in the South.
"Frankly, one would hope that that is rhetoric and not the objective or the purported objective of either side," Rice said.
A Sudan foreign ministry official denounced Rice's comments Wednesday.
"This
means treating the culprit and victim equally," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Omar Dahab said. He said the "aggression" by Southern Sudanese
troops on the Heglig area was a "flagrant violation" of the U.N.
charter.
"It is the duty of the Security Council to find an end to the situation in Heglig," Dahab said.
Tuesday's
firefight began after a Sudanese soldier shot a South Sudan soldier who
was getting water from the river, South Sudan government spokesman
Barnaba Marial Benjamin said Wednesday.
In all, seven South Sudan
soldiers and 15 Sudan soldiers died near the town of Meiram, along the
border with Sudan's South Kordofan state and South Sudan's Northern Bahr
el Ghazal state, he said.
But even as border violence spread to
new regions, Benjamin labeled the fight a "misunderstanding" and said he
did not think violence would continue there.
Onyiego reported from Juba, South Sudan. Associated Press writer
Kirubel Tadesse in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia contributed to this report.
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