Tabu Butagira with agencies
22 May 2008
Kampala/Khartoum — Over 50 people have been reported killed in Tuesday's violent clashes between the Sudan army and their rival Sudanese People's Liberation Army forces in the contested oil-rich Abyei region.
Initial information from the restive region suggests that at least 21 Sudan Armed Forces (Saf) soldiers are among the dead counted after the four-hour skirmish that also claimed lives of 20 to 50 civilians.
Aid workers separately reported that at least 100 people had been injured in the renewed violence.
Figures of fatalities on the side of the SPLA, blamed by Khartoum government for igniting the latest round of fighting, were not readily available but Saf spoke out on its losses.
"Over 21 Sudan Armed Forces soldiers were killed and 54 were injured," Brig. Uthman al-Agbash, the spokesman of the Sudan armed forces said.
By press time, unease calm was said to have returned to Abyei that is being claimed by both Khartoum and officials of the semi-autonomous Government of South Sudan.
Diplomatic and military sources said yesterday that the two rival armies had agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday evening although it remained uncertain for how long the guns would remain silent.
On the same day, the ruling government of national unity and congress in Khartoum hurriedly dispatched a joint-member ad hoc committee to halt the conflict from spreading to outlying areas.
"The Sudan government does not want the tense situation in Abyei to escalate," Mr El Rahim El Saddiq Mohammed, the deputy head of mission at the Sudanese embassy in Kampala said yesterday.
The rival parties fought on Tuesday on the back of accusations and counter-accusations of violations of the May 16, Abyei agreement.
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