WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday strongly condemned Sudan's
bombing of a UN base in South Sudan as it urged the two countries to
halt rising hostilities and resume talks.
The State Department,
which earlier condemned US-allied South Sudan for seizing a strategic
oil production hub from Sudan, said that its special envoy for the
region Princeton Lyman met in Juba with President Salva Kiir.
"We
strongly condemn the bombing by the Sudan armed forces of the UN mission
in South Sudan," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
"We want to see, bottom line, an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities," Toner said.
"Our
very strong urging here is for both sides to recognize the fact that
this is really a no-win situation and the only way to resolve these
differences is to get back" to African Union-led talks, Toner said.
Officials
said Monday that Sudanese warplanes bombed a UN peacekeepers' base,
damaging it but causing no casualties in the first such attack since a
recent escalation of fighting with South Sudan.
Bombing raids on
Sunday also killed nine civilians elsewhere in South Sudan's Unity
border state, said the area's information minister, Gideon Gatpan.
Troops
from South Sudan last week seized Heglig, which supplies around half of
Sudan's oil production, prompting a rare rebuke from the United States.
Toner
repeated the call Monday, saying: "We want to see South Sudan to
withdraw its forces immediately and unconditionally from Heglig."
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