ianstone
10-13-2010, 02:48 PM
12 October 2010 Last updated at 20:12
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49476000/jpg/_49476154_81584991.jpg
Joint north-south units deployed to Abyei in 2008 after deadly clashes
Shooting on Monday night by northern Sudan soldiers was an attempt to start clashes in the oil-rich region of Abyei, southern former rebels say.
SPLM spokesman Kuol Deim Kuol said four soldiers went into Abyei town's market and fired at random, wounding a trader.
He told the BBC it was a pretext to start trouble, as UN-mediated talks on Abyei's referendum ended in failure.
Sudan: Country at a crossroads
The people of Abyei are due to vote in January on whether the region should belong to north or south Sudan.
It is scheduled to take place on the same day as the south holds a referendum on whether to secede from north Sudan.
Both referendums were part of a 2005 peace deal to end two decades of conflict between the north and south, in which some 1.5 million people died.
Units of northern soldiers and southern SPLA soldiers are stationed in Abyei, where there are still disputes over voter eligibility and the physical demarcation of the state's border.
'Scapegoat'
Lt-Gen Kuol said northern soldiers in barracks in Abyei town responded to the market gunfire by firing in the air from about 2100 until 0200 on Tuesday morning.
The SPLM spokesman said the shooting only stopped after the intervention of UN peacekeepers.
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11527327#story_continues_2) http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49476000/gif/_49476474_sudan_abyei304.gif
Sudan relief at border decision (http://www.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8163455.stm)
"They want to provoke a fight - and there was no fight simply because the SPLA officers who are part of the joint integrated unit managed to control the SPLA soldiers and they did not fire," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"They want to dishonour the peace agreement and they're looking for a scapegoat. It's just a pretext to start a war," he said.
Correspondents say there is much suspicion in the south that President Omar al-Bashir and his colleagues in the north are doing all they can to stop the referendum because they stand to lose out on vast amounts of oil in Southern Sudan.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49476000/jpg/_49476154_81584991.jpg
Joint north-south units deployed to Abyei in 2008 after deadly clashes
Shooting on Monday night by northern Sudan soldiers was an attempt to start clashes in the oil-rich region of Abyei, southern former rebels say.
SPLM spokesman Kuol Deim Kuol said four soldiers went into Abyei town's market and fired at random, wounding a trader.
He told the BBC it was a pretext to start trouble, as UN-mediated talks on Abyei's referendum ended in failure.
Sudan: Country at a crossroads
The people of Abyei are due to vote in January on whether the region should belong to north or south Sudan.
It is scheduled to take place on the same day as the south holds a referendum on whether to secede from north Sudan.
Both referendums were part of a 2005 peace deal to end two decades of conflict between the north and south, in which some 1.5 million people died.
Units of northern soldiers and southern SPLA soldiers are stationed in Abyei, where there are still disputes over voter eligibility and the physical demarcation of the state's border.
'Scapegoat'
Lt-Gen Kuol said northern soldiers in barracks in Abyei town responded to the market gunfire by firing in the air from about 2100 until 0200 on Tuesday morning.
The SPLM spokesman said the shooting only stopped after the intervention of UN peacekeepers.
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11527327#story_continues_2) http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/49476000/gif/_49476474_sudan_abyei304.gif
Sudan relief at border decision (http://www.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8163455.stm)
"They want to provoke a fight - and there was no fight simply because the SPLA officers who are part of the joint integrated unit managed to control the SPLA soldiers and they did not fire," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"They want to dishonour the peace agreement and they're looking for a scapegoat. It's just a pretext to start a war," he said.
Correspondents say there is much suspicion in the south that President Omar al-Bashir and his colleagues in the north are doing all they can to stop the referendum because they stand to lose out on vast amounts of oil in Southern Sudan.