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Sudan clashes prompt UN pull-out | Sudan clashes prompt UN pull-out |
(about 5 hours later) | |
The UN has withdrawn non-essential staff from Sudan's town of Abyei after a day of clashes between government forces and southern former rebels. | The UN has withdrawn non-essential staff from Sudan's town of Abyei after a day of clashes between government forces and southern former rebels. |
UN spokesman Khaled Mansour told the BBC two soldiers had died on each side. | |
He said the dispute over the status of Abyei could jeopardise a 2005 whole peace deal which ended years of war. | |
Four Indian oil workers have been taken hostage in Abyei, according to the Indian ambassador. It is not clear who is behind the kidnapping. | |
"We believe the abductors didn't know they were Indian," Deepak Vohra told the AFP news agency. | |
"They're in good condition, they're in fine fettle." | |
The Jem rebel group from the Darfur region, which has in the past kidnapped Chinese oil workers in the nearby Kordofan State, denied responsibility. | |
Jem on Saturday attacked the capital, Khartoum, and threatened to attack oil installations. | |
The north-south civil war, separate from the Darfur conflict, is said to have cost the lives of 1.5 million people. | |
Three years after the signing of a peace deal, an administration is yet to be set up in Abyei, which is claimed by both north and south. | |
"This is indeed one of the most serious issues facing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between south and north," Mr Mansour told the BBC's Network Africa programme. | "This is indeed one of the most serious issues facing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between south and north," Mr Mansour told the BBC's Network Africa programme. |
He said because of the dispute the town lacked even the most basic services which made the area a "tinderbox". | He said because of the dispute the town lacked even the most basic services which made the area a "tinderbox". |
As part of the 2005 peace deal, the south is due to vote in 2011 on whether or not to seek independence from the north. | As part of the 2005 peace deal, the south is due to vote in 2011 on whether or not to seek independence from the north. |
"Everybody's talking about it in the media as a rich oil-rich town, but it's a very poor town and that's why people are on edge." | "Everybody's talking about it in the media as a rich oil-rich town, but it's a very poor town and that's why people are on edge." |
Deng Kual Deng, a resident of the town, told the BBC that the market area had been hit by mortar fire, but that there had been a lull in fighting overnight. | Deng Kual Deng, a resident of the town, told the BBC that the market area had been hit by mortar fire, but that there had been a lull in fighting overnight. |