Tuesday, 10 May 2011
A picture released by the United Nations Mission in Sudan in 2009 shows a Sudanese Dinka herder walking with cattle during an annual migration from Warrap state. (File photo)
A south Sudan rebel group carried out a cattle raid in Warrap state that killed 82 people, including women and children, a southern army spokesman said on Tuesday, the latest deadly violence to afflict the oil-producing region that will become independent in July.
Militiamen, under the leadership of southern rebel Philip Bepan, attacked the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army in neighboring Unity state on Saturday, SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer told Agence-France Presse.
"They were chased away and went to Warrap state, where they attacked cattle camps on May 8, at a place called Balhom Weth. They killed 34 and wounded 45 civilians, including women and children," he said.
"On the same day they were returning with the looted cattle, they were ambushed by the cattle herders. Forty-eight of the militia were killed and 48 of their new AK-47 rifles were taken," he said, according to AFP.
Southerners overwhelmingly voted to secede in a January referendum, promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north fought over religion, ethnicity, ideology and oil.
Analysts warn that the underdeveloped south, roughly the size of France, could become a failed state and destabilize the whole region if security deteriorates further, according to Reuters.
Clashes between the army and rebels or tribes have broken out in all but one of the south's ten states this year, killing more than 1,000 people, according to the United Nations and official figures.
Southern leaders have accused Khartoum of backing the rebels to disrupt the region and keep control of its oil.
Khartoum has dismissed the accusation, as have militia leaders who say they are rebelling against what they say is an autocratic government in the south.
(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached at abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
Militiamen, under the leadership of southern rebel Philip Bepan, attacked the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army in neighboring Unity state on Saturday, SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer told Agence-France Presse.
"They were chased away and went to Warrap state, where they attacked cattle camps on May 8, at a place called Balhom Weth. They killed 34 and wounded 45 civilians, including women and children," he said.
"On the same day they were returning with the looted cattle, they were ambushed by the cattle herders. Forty-eight of the militia were killed and 48 of their new AK-47 rifles were taken," he said, according to AFP.
Southerners overwhelmingly voted to secede in a January referendum, promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north fought over religion, ethnicity, ideology and oil.
Analysts warn that the underdeveloped south, roughly the size of France, could become a failed state and destabilize the whole region if security deteriorates further, according to Reuters.
Clashes between the army and rebels or tribes have broken out in all but one of the south's ten states this year, killing more than 1,000 people, according to the United Nations and official figures.
Southern leaders have accused Khartoum of backing the rebels to disrupt the region and keep control of its oil.
Khartoum has dismissed the accusation, as have militia leaders who say they are rebelling against what they say is an autocratic government in the south.
(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached at abeer.tayel@mbc.net)
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