Southern Kordofan fighting spreads into South Sudan's Unity State

South Sudan is due to separate on 9th July

South Sudan has accused the northern military of bombing its territory in Unity State on Monday 13th June, after fighting in the northern border state of Southern Kordofan spread across the border.

The northern army has been fighting southern-aligned troops in Southern Kordofan since 5th June, causing more than 50,000 people to flee the state, according to UN estimates.

Aerial bombardments and heavy artillery attacks were reported on Friday and Monday in Unity State, while fighting continues to rage in Kadugli, Southern Kordofan's state capital.

Ruling parties in north and south Sudan have blamed each other for the fighting in Southern Kordofan, the north's largest oil producing state.

The Southern Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM) has said fighting began when the northern army tried to disarm fighters. The northern army has blamed southern-aligned armed groups for provoking the clashes. They also said Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army (SPLA) forces attacked a local police station and stole a number of weapons.

South Sudan voted to separate from the north in a January independence referendum, required by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which brought decades of civil war to an end.

But the situation is more complicated in a number of border states, such as Southern Kordofan, which is clearly in the north, but whose residents often sided with southern-based rebels during the war.

Another issue of tension is the oil-rich Abyei state, which is claimed by both sides. Abyei was due to have its own referendum in January on whether to join the north or the south, but it was postponed indefinitely, due to disagreements over voter eligibility.

The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) took over Abyei town on 21st May, after an ambush by SPLA forces, and has occupied it since.

According to the Sudan Tribune, an African Union-sponsored summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on June 12-13th has resulted Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir agreeing to withdraw his troops from Abyei, although this has not been confirmed.

An unnamed diplomat was quoted as saying, “President Bashir has agreed to pull his troops out before 9th July with Ethiopia sending two battalions as peacekeepers. They will be deployed under the UN flag.”

The meeting was between al-Bashir and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir. It was mediated by former South African president Thabo Mbeki and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Human rights groups have warned that southerners are being targeted by pro-northern forces in Southern Kordofan state. Amnesty International's Tawanda Hondora was quoted by the BBC as saying “We think this is the start of what might be ethnic cleansing of South Kordofan, Unity State and Abyei, with the precise purpose of ensuring that, come independence, the areas will not have people who are perceived to be sympathetic to the south.”

South Sudan is due to separate from the north on 9th July.

Sources: African Union, BBC News, Reuters, Sudan Tribune

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

North and South Sudan agree to demilitarised border zone

North and South Sudan have agreed to set up a jointly patrolled demilitarised zone along their border, however both sides are already expressing scepticism on whether it will hold.

The African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) for Sudan, which mediated the deal, released a statement on Tuesday 31st May saying that an agreement was reached during talks on Monday in Addis Ababa to form a common zone along the 1,300 mile border.

The zone will follow internal borders from 1956, the year Sudan became independent from Britain, and will encompass six miles on either side of the border line.

Khartoum's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Media Secretary Ibrahim Ghandour downplayed the significance of the agreement, arguing that what was signed was simply one plan that could form the basis of a framework agreement.

He stressed that proposals are still being discussed.

The Southern-ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) also expressed doubt that such an agreement could be upheld.

SPLA spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer was quoted in the New York Times as saying “The question is, whether the Khartoum army and intelligence implement it? We doubt it very much.”


Disagreement over the border has proved to be one of the most problematic issues as South Sudan readies itself for independence in July.

Southerners voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north in a January referendum outlined by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which, in 2005, brought decades of civil war in Sudan to an end.

The CPA also arranged for a referendum to be held in the disputed border region of Abyei on whether its residents wanted to join the north or the south, but the vote was postponed indefinitely after disagreements over voter eligibility.

Both sides claim fertile and oil-rich Abyei, and it has been the site of numerous clashes in recent months.

On 21st May, northern forces took over Abyei, causing some 80,000 people to flee, mostly to the south.


The international community has called on Khartoum to withdraw from Abyei, however northern president Omar Al-Bashir has said he will not pull out.

On Thursday 26th May, the north bombed and destroyed the bridge across the Bahr el Arab, called the River Kiir by southerners, which forms part of the 1956 border in the Abyei area.

Northern troops have also been deployed in two other areas along the border, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, and Khartoum has demanded that all southern-allied soldiers in the areas disarm by Wednesday.

What will happen if they do not, is not yet clear.

Sources: BBC News, Guardian, New York Times, Sudan Tribune

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

North threatens to withhold recognition of South Sudan over border issues

Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) considerably upped the tension in the country on Thursday, 26th May, when it announced that it would not recognise the independence of South Sudan in July unless the new state's borders were demarcated.

The head of the NCP's political mobilisation bureau Al-Haj Magid Siwar said “How can we approve and recognise a state separate from us that we don't know where their borders begin or end?”

There are currently six problematic border points, as well the border region of Abyei, which is claimed by both sides. Both sides blame the other for delays in demarcation efforts.

South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to split from the north in a January independence referendum, which was part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended the decades-long civil war.

Abyei was due to have its own referendum in January to decide whether to join the north or the south, but the vote was postponed indefinitely due to disagreements over voter eligibility.

Tensions have been high in Abyei since and clashes between the Juba-supported Dinka Ngok, permanent residents of the region, and the Arab, nomadic Misseriya tribes, supported by Khartoum, have resulted in dozens of deaths.

On 22nd May, northern Sudanese forces took over Abyei in retaliation for attacks on their troops in the area by troops from the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

Speaking on Tuesday 24th May, Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir said he would not withdraw his troops from the region and stressed that Abyei belongs to the north.

"Abyei is Sudanese land, Northern land [and] we will not withdraw from it,” he was quoted in the Sudan Tribune as saying.

Al-Bashir also announced that he had given northern troops the 'green light' to attack southern forces if provoked.

Despite this, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said the south remained committed to the CPA.

“South Sudan will not go back to war. It will never happen under my leadership,” he said at a press conference in Juba on Thursday, 26th May.

“The Government of South Sudan remains committed to peace. But let some people not interpret this as acts of cowardice,” he said.

“We are not new to this kind of provocation from the NCP. Their invasion of Abyei should not be viewed as an isolated incident, but part of their plan to cause havoc in the region ahead of independence,” he argued.

Experts fear the continued dispute over Abyei could return the country to civil war.

Sources: AP, BBC News, Sudan Tribune, Sudan Vision

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.