36 killed as violence mars Sudanese referendum
Source: Agencies |
January 11, 2011, Tuesday
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AT least 36 people have died in clashes between tribespeople and Arab nomads near Sudan's north- south border, leaders in the contested Abyei region said yesterday, on the second day of a vote on southern independence.
Analysts say the central region of Abyei is the most likely place for north-south tensions to erupt into violence during and after the vote, which is the climax of a troubled peace deal that ended decades of civil war.
Southerners are expected to vote to split from the mostly Muslim north, depriving Khartoum of most of its oil reserves, angering many in the north.
Senior southern official Luka Biong condemned the fighting and said both sides were still trying to settle their bitter dispute over the ownership of Abyei as part of a package of negotiations, including how the regions will share oil revenues and debt after a split.
In a separate more positive development, former US President Jimmy Carter told CNN yesterday that Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir had offered to take on all of the country's crippling debt if the south seceded.
The offer, if confirmed, would be a significant conciliatory gesture from Bashir and would lift a huge fiscal burden from the south in the early days of its expected independence.
Leading members of Abyei's Dinka Ngok tribe, linked with the south, accused Khartoum of arming the area's Arab Misseriya militias in clashes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and said they were expecting more attacks in days to come.
The speaker of the Abyei administration, Charles Abyei, said the Misseriya attacked after hearing false rumors the Dinka were about to declare themselves part of the south.
"A large number of Misseriya attacked Maker village yesterday (Sunday), backed by government militia ... The first day one person died, the second day nine, yesterday 13," he said.
Misseriya leader Mokhtar Babo Nimr said 13 of his men had died in Sunday's violent clashes.
Analysts say the central region of Abyei is the most likely place for north-south tensions to erupt into violence during and after the vote, which is the climax of a troubled peace deal that ended decades of civil war.
Southerners are expected to vote to split from the mostly Muslim north, depriving Khartoum of most of its oil reserves, angering many in the north.
Senior southern official Luka Biong condemned the fighting and said both sides were still trying to settle their bitter dispute over the ownership of Abyei as part of a package of negotiations, including how the regions will share oil revenues and debt after a split.
In a separate more positive development, former US President Jimmy Carter told CNN yesterday that Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir had offered to take on all of the country's crippling debt if the south seceded.
The offer, if confirmed, would be a significant conciliatory gesture from Bashir and would lift a huge fiscal burden from the south in the early days of its expected independence.
Leading members of Abyei's Dinka Ngok tribe, linked with the south, accused Khartoum of arming the area's Arab Misseriya militias in clashes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and said they were expecting more attacks in days to come.
The speaker of the Abyei administration, Charles Abyei, said the Misseriya attacked after hearing false rumors the Dinka were about to declare themselves part of the south.
"A large number of Misseriya attacked Maker village yesterday (Sunday), backed by government militia ... The first day one person died, the second day nine, yesterday 13," he said.
Misseriya leader Mokhtar Babo Nimr said 13 of his men had died in Sunday's violent clashes.
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