With South Sudan in turn accusing Sudan of bombing a village on the southern side of their 1,800-km (1,200-mile) border, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the United States called for an end to clashes that threaten to spark a full-blown conflict.
South Sudan, which seceded in July, has been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute with the north over the fate of the formerly joint oil industry and other issues as fighting has escalated in the countries’ ill-defined border region.
South Sudan’s army (SPLA) on Tuesday attacked Heglig, a disputed area containing an oilfield that accounts for about half of Sudan’s 115,000 barrel-a-day output. The South’s army claimed to be holding the oil wells on Wednesday.
“There is no doubt that Heglig area and the oil wells are under control of the SPLA,” South Sudan military spokesman Philip Aguer said, adding that the north’s air force had bombed SPLA positions in Heglig and other areas.
A Sudanese official said he expected the fighting would hit oil output.
“I expect … these oilfields will be affected, definitely, and at least there will not be production. If there is a conflict in the area, this is the least,” said Rahamatalla Mohamed Osman, Sudan’s undersecretary of foreign affairs.
Motorists worried about a possible disruption to fuel supplies queued at petrol stations to stock up as news of the Heglig attack spread through the capital, although the oil ministry issued a statement saying it had enough fuel.
The U.S. State Department condemned South Sudan’s attack on Heglig, calling it “an act which goes beyond self-defense”.
It also condemned Sudan’s “continued aerial bombardment in South Sudan” and said the two sides needed to agree on an immediate cessation of hostilities.
UNRESOLVED TALKS
The South seceded from Khartoum’s rule last year, but the two sides have not agreed on issues including division of national debt, the status of citizens in each another’s territory and the exact position of the border.
Oil is among the most sensitive issues. Landlocked South Sudan shut down its roughly 350,000 barrel-per-day output in January in a dispute over how much it should pay to export crude using pipelines and other infrastructure in Sudan.
Sudan’s remaining output only serves domestic consumption.
Each side accuses the other of backing rebels in their territory.
“I don’t think there can be negotiations in this climate,” Osman said.
“What happened yesterday is a violation of international laws and an aggression on Sudan, and we have all the right to defend ourselves and regain the territories which were occupied by government of South Sudan,” he added.
South Sudan’s forces pushed 70 km (40 miles) into Sudan’s territory on Tuesday, Osman said. An information ministry statement accused South Sudan of “using mercenary forces and rebel groups” in the attack. Juba routinely denies such charges.
Following the incursion, parliament ordered a halt to negotiations with the south, Sudan’s state media said.
State news agency SUNA said Sudan would order a general army mobilization but gave no further details. It quoted Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein as saying the army was capable of preserving stability and controlling the situation.
AU CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL
SUNA said Sudan would halt all talks sponsored by the African Union with Juba and withdraw its negotiating team from Addis Ababa immediately.
The African Union called for the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal” of South Sudan’s army from Heglig and urged restraint on both sides.
U.N. chief Ban contacted South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and Sudan’s U.N. ambassador, urging both sides to exercise restraint and avoid further bloodshed, spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters in New York.
“The Secretary-General urged (Kiir) to consider holding a presidential summit immediately to build confidence and assure the peoples of South Sudan and Sudan that peace and dialogue is the only option for both sides,” he said.
South Sudan’s Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the Sudanese air force had bombed the village of Abiemnom in South Sudan’s Unity state on Wednesday, wounding four people including a child.
He said South Sudan had been acting in self defense after Sudan launched a ground attack from Heglig late on Monday. Sudanese officials also said they were only trying to defend their territory.
Sudan urged the U.N. Security Council to call on South Sudan to withdraw from all areas inside Sudanese territory, SUNA said.
(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, Khalid Abdelaziz, Aaron Maasho, Louis Charbonneau and Ulf Laessing; Editing by Andrew Roche)
