North and south Sudan agree to 20 km buffer zone (AFP)

KHARTOUM (AFP) – North and south Sudan agreed Wednesday to set up a demilitarised buffer zone along their border days before the country splits, the African Union said, but no truce has yet been reached in South Kordofan.

Wednesday's accord, signed in Addis Ababa and overseen by the chief African Union mediator Thabo Mbeki, requires both sides to withdraw their forces 10 kilometres (six miles) on either side of the border before the formal independence of the south on July 9, an AU statement read.

"The agreement ... is another building block for ensuring stability and unhindered development along the common border between north and south Sudan," the statement said.

Unarmed observers from both sides will work with UN observers to make sure the agreement is observed, and scattered checkpoints will be manned by Ethiopian peacekeepers.

This follows a recent agreement for the north to pull its troops out of the contested Abyei region, and a deal signed on Tuesday in which the two sides pledged to resolve their differences in the northern state of South Kordofan, where government forces are battling pro-south militia.

But Nafie Ali Nafie, Sudan's top presidential adviser and a signatory to Tuesday's framework accord, told reporters in Khartoum on his return from negotiations in Ethiopia that no ceasefire has been agreed.

"We didn't agree on stopping the hostilities in South Kordofan. But we have created a joint military committee that is going to meet in Addis Ababa next week," he said.

The conflict in Sudan's central border region has dramatically escalated tensions between north and south in the run-up to southern independence.

Although reliable casualty figures are hard to obtain because of heavy restrictions on the movement of UN agencies and non-governmental organisations, diplomats say the numbers could run into the hundreds.

Nafie said that despite the agreement to establish a demilitarised buffer zone, the two parties have yet to finalise the demarcation of the border itself, which is more than 2,000 kilometres long and remains disputed in a number of places.

On Monday, the UN Security Council ordered a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to Abyei to monitor the withdrawal of northern troops who occupied the disputed border region on May 21.

On the sensitive issue of citizenship after the country divides, Nafie said the two sides agreed to a nine-month transitional period to allow southerners living in the north and northerners in the south "to settle their situations."

"For the the southerners that want to work in the private sector in the north, they will have to get permission and residency permits," he added.

Millions of southerners fled to Khartoum during the devastating 22-year civil war between the northern government and ex-southern rebel army the SPLA that ended in 2005.

While many have returned to the south since last year, hundreds of thousands remain in the north, with its better job opportunities, but there have been growing concerns about their citizenship and employment rights.

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Sudan president visit to China delayed

Omar al-Bashir is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.NEW: Sudanese president's plane left Iran for China but turned back, Sudanese officials sayNEW: There were fears that some countries would act while his plane was above their airspace, the officials sayThe Sudanese president was scheduled to visit China

Beijing (CNN) -- The Sudanese president was scheduled to arrive in China on Monday, but the visit has been delayed without official explanation, Chinese ministry officials said.

Omar al-Bashir is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the region of Darfur, where war has continued since 2003.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it had no information about why al-Bashir's arrival has been delayed. The Sudanese Embassy in Beijing said it did not know how the delay would affect his schedule.

Al-Bashir left Tehran, Iran on Sunday to attend a conference on combating terrorism, the state-run news agency in Sudan reported.

His plane left Iran to go to China but returned to Iran because of concerns over attempts to enforce the international court's warrant, senior government officials in Sudan said.

There were fears that countries that recognize the International Criminal Court would take action if al-Bashir's plane crossed their airspace on its way from Iran to China, the officials said.

China voted against the statute that created the International Criminal Court and is not among more than 100 countries that recognize it.

Prior to his trip, the Sudanese leader gave an interview with China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, in which he touted the longstanding ties between the two nations.

"We regard China as the strategic partner for Sudan in various fields, including the political, economic, commercial and cultural," al-Bashir said in the interview, published Sunday by Xinhua. "China does not interfere in the internal affairs of others. The success of the Sino-Sudanese cooperation has pushed the African countries to search for the real and loyal partner."

Last week, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch called China's invitation to al-Bashir "an affront to victims of heinous crimes committed in Darfur."

"Al-Bashir's flouting of international arrest warrants should be cause for condemnation, not for an invitation," said Richard Dicker, the group's international justice director. "Beijing should instead be using its influence to press for justice in Darfur."

The Sudanese president has deflected opposition to him, telling Xinhua in a story posted Saturday that Western nations went after him and his forces in order to "cover up the acts committed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Al-Bashir, who became Sudan's president in 1993, is scheduled to be in China through Thursday at the invitation of its president Hu Jintao, according to Xinhua.

This will be his fourth visit to the Asian nation, after trips there in 1990, 1995 and 2006, when he attended a Sino-Africa Cooperation Forum summit in Beijing.

CNN's Nima Elbagir contributed to this report

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Rights investigations needed in Sudan border areas: U.N. (Reuters)

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Huts were still burning and looters roamed the main town of Sudan's disputed Abyei region this week, a senior U.N. official said, more than a month after Khartoum seized it and shut down a joint north-south administration.

Kyung-wha Kang, U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, said "thorough" investigations were needed in Abyei and another conflict-stricken border region, where weeks of fighting has forced tens of thousands of people to flee.

South Sudan will become a separate country in a little over two weeks, but clashes along the ill-defined border have raised fears of a return to the all-out north-south civil war that killed more than two million people over decades until 2005.

Fighting erupted between the northern army and southern-aligned fighters in the oil state of Southern Kordofan on June 5, about two weeks after Khartoum seized the neighboring contested Abyei region with tanks and soldiers.

Kang said a drive through Abyei's main town this week showed "complete destruction. No civilians. Some huts still burning, smoke, looters still roaming around".

"I think the situation is serious enough that it requires a thorough investigation," she said in an interview late on Tuesday.

The northern army, which says its troops are in Abyei and Southern Kordofan to guarantee stability and protect civilians, has called for Abyei's residents to return home.

Kang said human rights monitors should be given more access to the area to conduct interviews with people involved in and affected by the fighting on both sides.

"We would like that opportunity, but so far access has been very limited," she said.

Thousands of residents who had fled Southern Kordofan's state capital of Kadugli and the surrounding area to shelter near a U.N. mission in Sudan compound had returned home, but it was questionable whether the return was voluntary, Kang said.

She said her team had asked to visit Southern Kordofan during a tour of Sudan ahead of southern secession on July 9, but they had not heard back yet.

"Kadugli also requires a thorough, thorough look," Kang said. "The sooner the better".

Separate human rights and church groups have accused Khartoum of waging a campaign targeting the ethnic Nuba population in Southern Kordofan -- a northern state -- because of their perceived support for the south.

Northern officials have dismissed such charges as politically motivated allegations without grounds.

Air space has been largely restricted for U.N. flights over Southern Kordofan, which the world body has said has endangered its aid work in the area.

The United Nations also said six of its national staff were arrested at Kadugli airport on Wednesday.

Sudan has a long history of violent conflict.

The January referendum in which southerners voted to secede was a condition of a 2005 deal to end a civil war fought over ideology, ethnicity, religion and oil which forced millions to flee their homes.

Kang said the new nation in the south would face "enormous" human rights challenges, exacerbated because infrastructure and state capacity were still lacking.

"War leaves behind a culture where brute force gets its way," she said. "Overcoming that culture will require a lot of time, a lot of support, a lot of push".

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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U.N. aims to establish Sudan peacekeeping force

A U.N. position close to the disputed border region of Abyei, Sudan on April 17, 2011.Draft resolution would establish an interim peacekeeping force for AbyeiIt calls for deployment of 4,200 peacekeepers to the regionAgreement's purpose is to allow for troop withdrawal from Abyei, ambassador says

United Nations (CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council will take up a draft resolution that would establish an interim peacekeeping force for the disputed border region of Abyei, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told reporters Thursday.

The draft resolution calls for the deployment of 4,200 Ethiopian National Defense Force peacekeepers to the region.

"We are looking forward to discussions with council members in order to swiftly adopt a resolution authorizing this new interim security force for Abyei so that the agreement that both parties have reached, which is obviously urgent and fragile, can be implemented immediately and effectively," Rice told reporters after the Security Council met in closed session.

The purpose of the interim security agreement is to allow for the withdrawal of forces from Abyei, she said. "At this stage that means the forces of the government of Sudan, which are now occupying Abyei, and that that area would become demilitarized and administered in a joint fashion and that would persist pending resolution of the critical underlying issues."

Time for action over Sudan?

The Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement signed an agreement Monday that allows U.N. peacekeepers in Abyei. The two sides agreed in principle on the need for a third party to monitor the ill-defined border between north and south before the scheduled July 9 independence for the south.

Thursday's announcement came a day after U.S. President Barack Obama applauded the signing of the agreement, the latest effort to quell the violence in Sudan that has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes.

"I commend the parties for taking this step forward toward peace, and I urge them now to build on that progress and agree to an immediate cease-fire in Southern Kordofan," the White House said in a statement.

Southern Kordofan is the oil-rich northern border state where fighting has also erupted between government troops and forces loyal to the south.

Rice said she was concerned about the humanitarian situation in Southern Kordofan.

With a cease-fire in Southern Kordofan, alongside the agreement to deploy peacekeepers to Abyei, we can get the peace process back on track.
--Susan Rice

"We are deeply concerned about attacks on and threats to and intimidation of U.N. personnel, obstructions to freedom of movement and access for humanitarian goods, allegations and indeed verified reports of aerial bombardment and other attacks against civilian personnel," she said.

"With a cease-fire in Southern Kordofan, alongside the agreement to deploy peacekeepers to Abyei, we can get the peace process back on track," she said. "But without these actions, the road map for better relations with the government of Sudan cannot be carried forward, which will only deepen Sudan's isolation in the international community."

The people from the Nuba Mountains in Southern Kordofan are northerners but they aligned with the south's rebel movement during Sudan's decades-long civil war. They are viewed as a threat by Khartoum because Southern Kordofan will remain part of the north after independence.

"The treatment of civilians in South Kordofan, including the reported human rights abuses and targeting of people along ethnic lines, is reprehensible," said Valerie Amos, the United Nations undersecretary general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Between Abyei and Southern Kordofan, about 160,000 people have been displaced from their homes, the United Nations has said.

Southern Sudan voted for independence in a January referendum that was largely peaceful. But with its separation pending, tensions have heightened to what they were like during the civil war days and there has been little cause for celebration over the birth of a nation.

The U.S. State Department issued a warning Wednesday, urging U.S. citizens to avoid travel to the border areas -- including Abyei and Southern Kordofan -- as well as to the Darfur region of Sudan.

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Sudan: From the Nuba Mountains, Tales of Terror Bleed Out (Time.com)

More than once, the world has pledged never again: after the Holocaust in World War II, after Rwanda in 1994, then Bosnia in 1995, and most recently after the slaughter in Darfur. So it is no surprise that when reports of alleged ethnic cleansing begin bleeding out, Western policymakers start to squirm. This raw nerve was on exhibit once again this past week, when on Wednesday President Obama devoted a special two-minute radio address to an obscure renewed conflict in the remote mountains of central Sudan. But if the reported atrocities escalate, will words be all the world can offer?

Sudan's history is strewn with cases of mass atrocities against non-Arabs in the south and north, with Darfur being only the latest; reports in recent weeks from Sudan's South Kordofan state suggest history could be repeating itself yet again. There, members of a minority, opposition-aligned African ethnic group are being slaughtered "like animals," in the words of one alarming church statement. The diverse tribes live in a rugged land of mud-hut villages called the Nuba Mountains. So far, besides an aerial-bombardment campaign against the Nuba areas, the targeted killings against them have been mostly confined to the major towns, as tens of thousands flee into the hills where, for now, they are mostly safe. (See pictures of southern Sudan going to the polls.)

But internal U.N. documents obtained by TIME show that refuge might soon come under attack too. Hundreds of military vehicles have streamed into South Kordofan's capital Kadugli, the epicenter of the bloodbath, according to U.N. reports. Preparations for a major ground offensive were becoming increasingly clear, the U.N. Kadugli base warned in a June 15 confidential dispatch, which urgently called for political intervention to ward off the crisis.

Since fighting started two weeks ago, the Sudanese government under Omar al-Bashir has done its best to isolate the already remote region to keep information from flowing out and humanitarian assistance from flowing in. But aid workers working in the affected area who recently escaped to Juba, capital of South Sudan - set to declare formal independence in July under a cloud of conflict - tell TIME of a land under a spell of impending doom. "You can see it in all their eyes. They are scared. They see this as a fight for survival," said one in an interview in Juba. The children and women pouring in from Kadugli and other towns wear signs of deep trauma and hunger, say aid workers, and tell stories of Arab militias killing anyone who is black. "The government thinks that all black people are opposition supporters, and are therefore targets even if they are children or old grannies," explained one aid worker who had just left the area. One visibly disturbed Nuba aid worker who had fled with his family from Kadugli said the pro-government forces were acting as if under an order to clear out the whole Nuba population.

It is a brutal but old counterinsurgency tactic - draining the pond, to use an old adage - and the Sudanese government has used it numerous times before. The aid workers interviewed predicted that if the ground offensive commences, "absolute carnage," in the words of one, could ensue. None of the aid workers wished for their names or organizations to be mentioned for security reasons.

Their accounts align with official statements from church and domestic and international advocacy groups, based on reports they are gathering from the ground. The Anglican Church's Archbishop of Canterbury warned last week: "The risk of another Darfur ... is a real one," and both church and advocacy groups are already using the word "ethnic cleansing." While death tolls are impossible to calculate, there seems to be agreement that the number is at least in the "hundreds." The U.N. estimates that at least 60,000 have been displaced. But the real fear is over what could be yet to come.

The tepid response from the international community so far is being met with frustration, though not surprise. The U.N. receives especially scathing criticism. Its peacekeeping presence has been confined to its Kadugli base, where it is trying to protect up to 8,500 who have camped there in hopes of finding safety. Egyptian peacekeepers, seen as biased toward Sudan's Arab government, are accused by many Nuba of being complicit in targeted assassinations within the U.N. displaced camp, a charge that cannot be independently confirmed. Whether true or not, distrust against the Egyptians among the displaced population was so high that Bangladeshi troops were flown in to guard the camp instead. (See pictures of southern Sudan readying for a referendum.)

As for the U.S., Obama's stern appeal to end the fighting has had no discernible effect on the ground. The U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Princeton Lyman, told TIME that the U.S. was working extremely hard to get a cease-fire - including via a direct meeting with Nuba rebel leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu at his South Kordofan base this past week - but said the Administration was not currently looking at any intervention plans in case the situation escalated. Due to already heavy sanctions, the U.S. has little soft leverage besides incentives - a normalization of ties, delisting Sudan as a sponsor of terror, and approving the nation's access to international financing and debt relief. Lyman said these were what Sudan ultimately needed: "Their future depends on coming back to the international community."

But prospects of a cease-fire appear slim. Al-Hilu has agreed to negotiate, but only for a lasting political solution that includes power sharing and an arrangement for the tens of thousands of his rebel fighters left over from the civil war. It is still not clear whether the government in Khartoum is even willing to talk. As for the Nuba, this seems like just another chapter in a familiar history. In the early 1900s, Winston Churchill, then a young British soldier on a military campaign in Sudan, described how a fierce Sudanese battalion was sent down to fight the Nuba, a "mountain people who cared for nothing but their independence," just to give the elite soldiers something to do. In the 1990s, as many as half a million Nuba were killed as the Sudanese government declared jihad against them. When I was in the Nuba Mountains in April, I found a people terrified that war would return but resigned to their frightful and uncertain future. Given their history and the history of their government, they seem to have good reasons to fear.

See "In Sudan's Nuba Mountains, on the Edge of War."

Watch "Blind but Empowered: Voting for a Sovereign Southern Sudan."

View this article on Time.com

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UN reinforcements head to Sudan conflict state (AFP)

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The United Nations is sending peacekeeper reinforcements to the strife-torn Sudanese state of South Kordofan and has turned its main base there into a safe haven for refugees, UN officials said.

More than 120 Bangladeshi troops will lead reinforcements sent to the state's main city, Kadugli, where Khartoum government troops are battling forces loyal to southern Sudan which is on the verge of forming a breakaway nation.

Heavy fighting in the state on the border between north and south Sudan has raged since June 5. Khartoum forces are battling militia aligned to the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said a Security Council meeting had been told how Kadugli Cathedral had been razed and other churches burned during fighting and that the area around the main base of the UN mission, UNMIS, has become a "focus" of the fighting.

"It's important that the compound of UNMIS can become a sort of safe area where civilians are effectively protected. We have been reassured that instructions have been sent to UNMIS to do their job," Araud told reporters after the meeting.

A UN peacekeeping spokesman said the company of Bangladesh troops had been sent to Kadugli and that the area around the UN compound had become a safe haven to protect civilians.

UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told the Security Council that up to 6,000 people were camped out around the base. The United Nations estimates that 60,000 have been displaced by the fighting in South Kordofan alone, including about 70 percent of the population of Kadugli.

Le Roy said tensions have been heightened by "an overall escalation of political rhetoric by both parties."

The Security Council is to get a briefing on Monday from former South African president Thabo Mbeki and UN envoy Haile Menkerios on attempts to seal a peace deal between the north and south governments.

Araud said that if there was no agreement by Monday the Security Council would have to "express itself in very strong terms to call for an end to the violence."

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Sudan border state foes agree to talks: Mbeki (Reuters)

ADDIS ABABA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) – The warring parties in Sudan's Southern Kordofan border state have agreed hostilities should cease and that talks should start, former South African President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.

Fighting between the northern military and southern-aligned armed groups broke out in Southern Kordofan on June 5 and has escalated to include artillery and warplanes. Over 60,000 people are believed to have fled the fighting, the United Nations said.

Both President Barack Obama and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have called for an immediate ceasefire in the north-run oil state, where humanitarian groups fear a mounting death toll.

The south due to become a separate country on July 9 and a raft of issues remain unresolved between the two sides, including where to draw the common boundary.

"Both sides have agreed that there should be a cessation of hostilities, and that negotiations should begin immediately. They've said they will discuss on certain modalities. The details can only be done within those negotiations," Mbeki told reporters in Addis Ababa after visiting Southern Kordofan.

Mbeki, who has been helping guide talks between north and south ahead of secession, said he and other officials would begin planning "full-fledged negotiations" between the Sudanese government and representatives of Southern Kordofan.

He did not give a time frame for when any ceasefire would go into effect. Earlier on Thursday Sudan's army said it would continue fighting against southern-aligned groups in Southern Kordofan to end what it calls an armed rebellion.

"We are continuing our military operations in the mountains around Kadugli up to this moment, until the rebellion stops," northern military spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khaled told reporters in Khartoum.

AIRSPACE CLOSED

The United Nations urged north Sudan's military to open up airspace over Southern Kordofan, saying a six-day closure was endangering its aid operations there.

"The ongoing closure of the airspace in Southern Kordofan by SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) is dangerously hampering our humanitarian operations as thousands of internally displaced persons are in urgent need of emergency assistance," U.N. Mission in Sudan spokesman Kouider Zerrouk said.

"It is vital that the government of Sudan acts immediately to ensure access to all airspace by U.N. flights to alleviate the growing suffering of those most affected by conflict."

The London-based group Save the Children said in a statement 30,000 of the displaced were children "at risk of being separated from their families, traumatized and abused."

Northern spokesman Khaled dismissed charges the army was putting civilians in danger, saying its role was to help them.

Southerners voted to secede in a January referendum that was promised in a deal in 2005 that ended decades of civil war.

Many of the fighters in Southern Kordofan are still referred to as part of the south's army as a legacy of that conflict, though the southern military says they are no longer part of its forces.

Officials in the south's dominant party have said the fighting erupted after the northern army tried to disarm fighters there, while northern officials have accused southern-aligned groups of starting the fighting.

The government in Khartoum stands to lose around a third of its territory and up to three quarters of its oil reserves when Africa's largest country becomes two states, but most of the terminals, pipelines and refineries are in the north.

The northern government's oil minister said earlier that north Sudan have agreed to accept transit fees from the south to export southern oil after July 9 but the two sides had yet to agree a price.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz; Writing by Alex Dziadosz; editing by Tim Pearce)

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North, south Sudan clash before split: south army (Reuters)

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – South Sudan's army said it clashed with northern troops in the disputed Abyei border region on Wednesday, in the latest sign of deteriorating relations in the build-up to the secession of the south in July.

Long-standing tensions between northern and southern-aligned groups along the shared border have come to a head less than a month before the independence of the oil-producing south.

Southerners overwhelmingly voted to declare independence from the north in a January referendum promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north, fought over religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology.

A return to full north-south conflict could have a devastating impact on the region by sending refugees back across borders and creating a failed state in the south at birth.

The south's army said its troops clashed with northern soldiers in Abyei on Wednesday more than three weeks after the northern military seized the fertile, oil-producing area.

A spokesman for the northern army said he had no information about any clashes on Wednesday.

The northern army has also been fighting southern-aligned armed groups in Southern Kordofan -- a northern, oil-producing state that surrounds Abyei on the ill-defined north-south border -- since June 5.

OBAMA CALL

President Barack Obama urged Sudan's government to halt military operations in Southern Kordofan and called for a ceasefire.

"There is no military solution," Obama said, appealing directly to leaders on both sides in an audio message issued through the U.S. government-funded Voice of America network.

Analysts have said the north may be trying to assert its authority along the north-south border to stamp out any remnants of southern support ahead of the split.

The division of Africa's largest country is a highly sensitive subject for the Khartoum government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir which stands to lose around a third of its territory and up to three quarters of its oil reserves when the south leaves.

The United Nations on Wednesday said air strikes on Southern Kordofan may have killed as many as 64 people and caused tens of thousands to flee.

"There is a growing sense of panic among some of the displaced populations who find themselves trapped by the ongoing violence and the ethnic fault lines," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report.

In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said the situation in Southern Kordofan was deteriorating and that a "humanitarian corridor" should be created for aid deliveries.

"The problem is that the fighting is spreading by the day," said Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba.

"POLITICAL RUMOURS"

Some civilians were being targeted at checkpoints, she said.

"We even have unconfirmed reports -- people are telling us about torture, harassment, sometimes summary executions at checkpoints ... It is difficult for us to confirm that, but that is what displaced are telling us," she added.

Northern official Rabie Abdelati on Tuesday dismissed allegations of arbitrary torture, arrest and killing in Southern Kordofan as "political rumors."

Both north and south still have to resolve a list of issues ahead of the split, including how they are doing to share the country's oil wealth, the position of their border and the status of Abyei.

Abyei was a key battleground in the civil war and a symbol for both the mostly Muslim north and the south, where most follow Christian and traditional beliefs.

"SPLA and SAF clashed in Abyei in the area of the Kiir bridge (on Wednesday)," southern army spokesman Philip Aguer said, referring to the north's Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

The river, known as Kiir in the south and Bahr al-Arab in the north has become a frontline between northern and southern troops since Khartoum occupied the region.

Aguer said there had been casualties, but did not release any numbers.

The north says it moved into Abyei after southern soldiers attacked its troops in the area. The north has also accused southern-backed groups of trying to start a revolution in Southern Kordofan, the north's main oil state and home to some groups that sided with the south during the civil war.

After talks in neighboring Ethiopia over the weekend, both sides announced on Monday they had agreed "in principle" to pull their troops out of Abyei and deploy Ethiopian peacekeepers.

Southern minister Deng Alor told reporters in Addis Ababa the north was now holding up discussions over the withdrawal of northern troops with last minute conditions.

"Bashir has agreed to withdraw, but the problems are over his request to administer Abyei and over the status of the Ethiopian troops," Deng Alor, south Sudan's minister for regional cooperation, told reporters in Addis Ababa.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Geneva and Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by Andrew Heavens)

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Obama calls for ceasefire in Sudan (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged Sudan's government to halt military operations in a troubled border state and called for a ceasefire in bloody fighting as the south prepares to secede next month.

"There is no military solution," Obama said, appealing directly to leaders on both sides, in an audio message issued through the government-funded Voice of America network.

The northern military has been fighting southern-aligned armed groups in Southern Kordofan -- the north's main oil state which borders south Sudan -- in recent weeks, raising tensions as the south prepares for independence on July 9.

Air strikes on Southern Kordofan, which is home to many fighters who sided with the south against Khartoum during the last civil war, may have killed as many as 64 people and caused tens of thousands to flee, the United Nations said.

"The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan must live up to their responsibilities," Obama said. "The government of Sudan must prevent a further escalation of this crisis by ceasing its military actions immediately, including aerial bombardments, forced displacements and campaigns of intimidation."

The south's main party has said the northern army sparked the fighting by trying to disarm southern-aligned fighters in the region ahead of the split. The north has accused the fighters of starting the conflict.

Southerners voted to secede in a January referendum that was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war. That conflict killed 2 million people. The formal split has been complicated by disputes over where to draw the common border and how to divide oil revenues.

Obama called on both sides to end the violence and allow free movement of aid workers and supplies. "I want to speak directly to Sudanese leaders: you must know that if you fulfill your obligations and choose peace, the United States will take the steps we have pledged toward normal relations," he said.

"However, those who flout their international obligations will face more pressure and isolation and they will be held accountable for their actions."

Washington has offered Khartoum incentives for an orderly transition, including gradual steps toward full normalization of diplomatic ties, the removal of Sudan from the U.S. terrorism blacklist and an international deal on debt relief.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Bill Trott)

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South Sudan accuses north of air attack, clashes flare (Reuters)

JUBA/KHARTOUM (Reuters) – South Sudan's army accused the north on Friday of bombing a southern border village and said southern forces were getting ready to defend against a possible ground attack.

The south is preparing to secede on July 9 and fears of fresh fighting between the two long-standing rivals grew after the north seized the contested Abyei region on May 21.

The United Nations said fighting between northern forces and southern-aligned armed groups in the north-run oil state of Southern Kordofan had spread to the tip of the southern Unity state and that tens of thousands may have fled the clashes.

Philip Aguer, spokesman for the south's Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army, said the northern military was trying to occupy areas near the border -- whose exact position is yet to be decided -- in an attempt to control the country's oil fields.

"There has been an air bombardment by northern forces in Unity state, in the morning yesterday and again in the afternoon. Three people were killed in the morning," Aguer said. The three dead were civilians, he said.

"We are expecting not only air attacks but also ground forces. We know their forces are moving from Abyei toward Unity state. ... We are getting ready to defend ourselves. Our forces near the border are on maximum alert and are expecting an attack any time," he added.

A spokesman for the northern army was not immediately available to comment. In previous statements, it blamed southern or southern-aligned forces for provoking fighting in Abyei, Southern Kordofan and elsewhere.

The White House said on Friday night it was "deeply concerned" by the developments in southern Sudan.

"The United States condemns reported acts of violence in Southern Kordofan that target individuals based on their ethnicity and political affiliation," the Obama administration statement said. "We call on the UN to fully investigate these incidents, and we demand that the perpetrators immediately halt these actions and be held accountable for their crimes."

South Sudan voted to secede in a January referendum promised by a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of brutal civil war between the north and south.

That vote went more smoothly and peacefully than many analysts and humanitarian groups predicted, but a lack of agreement between the two sides on questions such as how to share debt and oil revenues has complicated the split.

The secession could see the north lose some 75 percent of Sudan's current 500,000 barrels a day of oil output, the lifeblood of both the northern and southern economies.

VOLATILE BORDER

Northern forces have been fighting armed groups in the volatile Southern Kordofan border state since a police station was attacked on Saturday.

Between 30,000 and 40,000 people may have fled fighting in the state capital, Kadugli, alone, the United Nations said on Friday. The town's normal population is estimated at 60,000.

"The fighting has spread to the disputed border area of the northernmost tip of Unity state in southern Sudan," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.

Armed checkpoints were set up on the main roads inside and around Kadugli and there had been reports of "large-scale" looting as late as Thursday, she added.

Kouider Zerrouk, spokesman for UNMIS, the local U.N. Mission in Sudan, said separately that MiG and Antonov aircraft bombardments were reported in the state's Umm Dorain, Umm Serdiba, Heiban and Saraf el-Gamos on Thursday, and artillery fire could be heard near Kadugli on Friday.

"The security situation in Kadugli and its environs remains volatile," he said. "Military build-up is continuing in various locations."

Analysts have seen Southern Kordofan as a flashpoint because it is home to thousands of northerners who sided with the south against Khartoum during the last civil war. Northern officials have called last week's clashes an "armed rebellion."

The region also holds the most productive oil fields that will be left in the north after the split.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki met with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Thursday to discuss Southern Kordofan and Abyei and was scheduled to travel to Juba to meet officials there on Friday, state news agency SUNA said.

Abyei, long a centerpiece of the north-south divide, has been one of the most contentious issues before southern secession. It is used all year by the south-linked Dinka Ngok people and part of the year by northern Misseriya nomads.

Khartoum took control of the area with tanks and troops nearly three weeks ago, following an attack on a convoy of northern soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers that was blamed on southern forces. The move drew an international outcry.

Abyei was "calm but unpredictable" with sporadic shooting in the region's main town, OCHA said on Friday. Some 101,800 people may have fled the fighting there, it added, up from a previous estimate of 96,000.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz in Khartoum; Editing by Louise Ireland and Peter Cooney)

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Over 10,000 flee clashes in Sudan border state: U.N. (Reuters)

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – More than 10,000 people displaced by fighting in Sudan's Southern Kordofan were staying near a U.N. compound on Thursday, the country mission spokesman said, after nearly a week of clashes in the tense border state.

Fighting between government forces and armed groups erupted in the state capital of Kadugli and elsewhere after a police station was attacked on Saturday, adding to tensions as the country's south prepares to secede in about a month.

Southern Kordofan, an oil-producing state which lies in northern territory, has long been seen as a flashpoint because it is home to thousands of fighters who fought alongside the south against Khartoum during the last civil war.

In statements carried by the state news agency SUNA, Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said north Sudan's armed forces were in control of Southern Kordofan on Thursday and were combing it for "remnants of the rebellion."

Southern Kordofan is important to the north because it has the most productive oil fields that will remain under Khartoum's control after the split. The south could take as much as 75 percent of Sudan's 500,000 barrels per day of oil output.

It also borders the disputed Abyei territory and Darfur, a western region that is the scene of a separate insurgency.

Analysts have predicted fighting could break out in Southern Kordofan ahead of the split, especially after an official of the ruling northern party was named the winner in a gubernatorial election last month.

The south said the vote was rigged, which Khartoum denied.

Southern Sudan voted to secede in a January referendum, the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between the north and south. The split is scheduled for July 9.

CLASHES CONTINUE

The number of people staying near the local U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) compound after fleeing the state capital of Kadugli and nearby villages had risen to an estimated 10,000 by Thursday, UNMIS spokesman Kouider Zerrouk said.

Clashes took place in Kadugli and other areas into Thursday, he added.

Bashir's ruling National Congress Party had earlier accused southern-aligned armed groups in Southern Kordofan of fighting with the support of "foreign powers" and some domestic opposition.

"The armed forces will carry out their national duty and deal with all rebel forces," the statement cited presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie as saying.

Officials with the south's dominant party, the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, have said the clashes started when the north tried to disarm armed groups in the area.

The northern army has blamed the southern-aligned groups for starting the fighting.

The militias are still referred to as members of the Southern Peoples' Liberation Army -- the southern military -- although Juba says they are no longer part of their army and cannot ask them to withdraw south because they are northern.

(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

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Kidnapped Bulgarians freed in Sudan

The three airmen were abducted in Darfur by armed men at a landing strip on January 13.Three men abducted on January 13 in Dafur have been freedThe captives were Bulgarian airmen working for the UN World Food ProgrammeThe World Food Programme regional director thanked the Sudanese government for its help

(CNN) -- Three Bulgarian airmen kidnapped in Sudan nearly five months ago have been freed, and appear to be in good health, the United Nations World Food Programme said in a news release Monday.

WFP Regional Director Amer Daoudi thanked the government of Sudan "for its tireless efforts in securing the release of the three men who... were working to help the most vulnerable people in Darfur," a region of Sudan blighted by civil war since 2003.

The WFP said it did not pay any ransom.

The three men were working for WFP's United Nations Humanitarian Air Service in Darfur when they were abducted by armed men at a landing strip on January 13.

The former captives will be flown to Khartoum, then back home to Bulgaria, the WFP said.

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U.N. condemns violence in Sudan

Marchers protest against the government's military occupation of the Abyei region in southern Sudan.Northern and southern Sudan claim the region of AbyeiThe United Nations wants the north to withdraw its troopsSouthern Sudan plans to secede in July

United Nations (CNN) -- The U.N. Security Council on Friday condemned the violence in the disputed Sudanese region of Abyei and called on the government in the north to pull out its troops.

"The council demands that the government of Sudan withdraw immediately from the Abyei area," the statement said.

The council called on both parties to adhere to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended two decades of Sudanese civil war.

The north has occupied Abyei for about two weeks. Both sides claim the territory in anticipation of southern Sudan's planned secession from the north on July 9.

The council condemns all unilateral actions aimed at swaying the negotiations, the statement said.

On Tuesday, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, said Sudanese forces for the government based in the north have been exercising restraint.

"We went to Abyei to put the house in order and to the stop any violation by the SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) creating havoc by the armed forces in Abyei," he said. "We immediately declared that our presence there is temporary. We are not going to stay indefinitely in Abyei."

For his part, Ezekiel Gatkuoth, the representative of the Southern Sudanese Mission in United States, urged the Security Council to focus on the situation in his country.

"We are asking the world to intervene immediately so that our people, who were displaced from Abyei, are assisted," he said.

The Security Council statement was read by the ambassador of Gabon to the United Nations, Nelson Messone. That country holds the presidency of the Security Council this month.

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US says Sudan move into Abyei was premeditated (AP)

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press – 49 mins ago

UNITED NATIONS – The Sudanese government's takeover of the disputed border town of Abyei increasingly appears to be premeditated, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said Thursday.

Rice said government forces seem to have used an attack by southern forces on a convoy of government soldiers from the north last week as a "pretext" to move into the town in the oil-rich Abyei region on the border between Sudan's Arab-dominated north and mainly ethnic African south.

Both the north and south claim Abyei, a fertile region located near several oil fields. Northern tanks and soldiers rolled into the disputed region Saturday following the attack on a northern army convoy Thursday, raising fears the dispute could trigger a return to civil war.

"There's real concern that the government of Sudan may have taken a decision to continue to occupy Abyei for its own political advantage for an indefinite period," Rice said in a conference call after returning from a Security Council trip to Africa that included visits to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and South Sudan's capital, Juba.

"Everybody is in agreement that this is a very destabilizing and unhelpful development and a violation" of the 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of civil war between the north and the south, Rice said.

Under the peace agreement, a referendum on the future of southern Sudan was held in January and the south voted overwhelmingly to secede from Sudan, Africa's largest country.

But key provisions of the 2005 accord have not been implemented including a referendum to determine whether Abyei remains part of the north or the south, agreement on the north-south borders, and future security arrangements between the two countries.

Salva Kiir, the president of Southern Sudan, said Thursday he will not return to war even though the north was reportedly moving thousands of Arab tribesmen into Abyei villages abandoned by tens of thousands of terrified southerners.

Human Rights Watch said Thursday the Sudanese government urgently needs to halt looting and destruction of civilian property by its forces in the town of Abyei and hold those responsible to account. It also demanded that the government allow United Nations peacekeepers access to the entire Abyei area.

The U.N. Country Team in Sudan said late Thursday that the premises of U.N. agencies and humanitarian organizations in Abyei town have been looted of medical supplies, surgical equipment, 800 metric tons of food which is enough to feed 50,000 people for three months, water and hygiene equipment.

The team said tens of thousands of people who fled Abyei have arrived in southern Sudan and are in need of urgent assistance.

Humanitarian agencies are trying to distribute food and emergency items, the U.N. said. But an unknown number of people have fled into the bush while in Turalei, 130 kilometers from Abyei town, 15,000 displaced people are living in the open.

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North Sudan Abyei seizure 'illegal,' says south (AFP)

JUBA, Sudan (AFP) – Northern troops seized control of most of Abyei district on Sudan's north-south border Sunday, Khartoum said as the south accused it of an "illegal invasion" that threatens the lives of thousands.

The seizure, coming in the run-up to international recognition of the south's independence in July, was condemned by the world powers as a threat to peace between Sudan's north and south.

Abyei was granted a special status under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended 22 years of devastating civil war between north and south and requires both sides to keep their troops out until a vote to determine its future.

"We are in control of Abyei and all the (Bahr al-Arab) area north of the bank of the river," Khartoum's minister of state for the presidency, Amin Hassan Omer, told a news conference in Khartoum.

"This is because there is still elements from SPLA (the south?s Sudan People?s Liberation Army) trying to enforce its presence in Abyei, and this is not acceptable according to Abyei protocol and the CPA."

South Sudan's government warned the north's "illegal occupation" of Abyei risked tipping the country back to a conflict that would threaten the lives of thousands of civilians.

"This is an illegal invasion and breaks all the peace agreements, endangering the lives of thousands of civilians," said south Sudan's information minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin.

"They (the north) are in a fighting mood but we can not accept that they drag the people of Sudan down the drain."

Both sides said they were committed to the CPA.

Omer said "the next step is that we are ready for engagement and negotiations to stop the problem.

"We are a responsible government, we'll not leave any part of Sudan in a security vacuum," he said.

The south's Benjamin said: "We are committed to the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement."

SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer said earlier that "the fighting has been very, very bad" and that "indiscriminate" bombing forced people to flee.

"People have fled the area, because the bombardment was indiscriminate -- bombs from the air and from tanks on the ground," he added.

Troops loyal to the SPLA had all retreated into the south from the disputed district on the border with the north, he added.

Britain on Sunday joined the growing chorus of international condemnation of the north's move into the contested district.

"I condemn recent military actions in and around Abyei, including the attack on Abyei town by the Sudanese armed forces on 21 May and the attack on a joint Sudanese armed forces and UN convoy on 19 May," said Foreign Secretary William Hague in a statement.

The United Nations had called Saturday for an "immediate cessation of hostilities," after the United States and France called on Khartoum to withdraw its forces.

A UN base in Abyei came under attack, with a mortar round landing inside the compound, but there were no casualties, a UN spokesman said.

Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres, which runs health clinics in Abyei town and 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the south in Agok, said in a statement the "entire population of Abyei town fled the city."

Its clinic in Agok had received 42 wounded people by Saturday evening.

Fighting in Abyei has pitted the former civil war enemies against each other since January when the district was due to vote on its future alongside a referendum on independence for the south which delivered a landslide for secession.

But the plebiscite was postponed indefinitely as the north and south disagreed on who should be eligible to vote in an area where conflicted loyalties and land disputes keep tensions high.

A UN Security Council delegation met Sunday with representatives of the Sudanese government in Khartoum but neither Foreign Minister Ali Karti, who was expected to lead discussions, nor Vice President Ali Osman Taha were present.

"The issue of Abyei was of course at the heart of discussions and the Sudanese party expressed its will to cooperate" with the international community, a participant told AFP on condition of anonymity.

State news agency Suna, meanwhile, said Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir ordered mixed local administrative units be replaced, a move violating the 2005 peace treaty.

The district's future is the most sensitive of a raft of issues the two sides had been struggling to reach agreement on before July.

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U.N. warns on standoff in Sudan region

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says the government will not recognize Southern Sudan if it claims the Abyei region.Forces from north, South Sudan clash this week, killing 14U.N. chief says he "is deeply concerned by the continued tension" South Sudan is expected to officially become an independent nation in JulyHowever, ownership of the oil-rich Abyei region remains a flashpoint.

(CNN) -- Violence in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei will jeopardize relations between north and South Sudan governments as the two sides gear up for a permanent separation in July, the United Nations said.

Northern Sudan's army clashed with southern forces in the region this week, killing at least 14, the United Nations said Friday.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he "is deeply concerned by the continued tension" in the area.

"The military standoff is unacceptable," Ban said in a statement.

South Sudan in January voted to split from the north, and is expected to officially become an independent nation in July.

However, the fate of the oil-rich Abyei region remains a flashpoint.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said last month that his government would not recognize the new state of South Sudan if it claims Abyei.

"Abyei is a part of the north and will remain a part of the north," the president said in a speech broadcast on state television.

Al-Bashir's declaration reneged on an earlier promise to honor the results.

On Friday, Ban urged the two sides to avoid claiming ownership of the area to avoid undermining a peaceful resolution.

"The parties must refrain from provoking each other or engaging in any military confrontation in Abyei as this could result in further loss of life and significantly affect the future relationship between North and South," he said.

Leaders of the north and the South have a range of issues to address as their separation nears, including Abyei.

Ban said the two sides should make negotiations on the disputed region a priority, joining the United States in calling for a resolution to outstanding concerns.

"It is important that both sides ... focus intensely on trying to resolve the key issues that have not been completed ... Abyei is one of them," Johnnie Carson, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said last month.

The referendum to split was part of a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of violence between the north and oil-rich south. The conflict led to the deaths of 2 million people, many from starvation.

CNN's Faith Karimi contributed to this report.

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U.N. warns on standoff in Sudan region

Forces from north, South Sudan clash this week, killing 14U.N. chief says he "is deeply concerned by the continued tension" South Sudan is expected to officially become an independent nation in JulyHowever, ownership of the oil-rich Abyei region remains a flashpoint.

(CNN) -- Violence in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei will jeopardize relations between north and South Sudan governments as the two sides gear up for a permanent separation in July, the United Nations said.

Northern Sudan's army clashed with southern forces in the region this week, killing at least 14, the United Nations said Friday.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he "is deeply concerned by the continued tension" in the area.

"The military standoff is unacceptable," Ban said in a statement.

South Sudan in January voted to split from the north, and is expected to officially become an independent nation in July.

However, the fate of the oil-rich Abyei region remains a flashpoint.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said last month that his government would not recognize the new state of South Sudan if it claims Abyei.

"Abyei is a part of the north and will remain a part of the north," the president said in a speech broadcast on state television.

Al-Bashir's declaration reneged on an earlier promise to honor the results.

On Friday, Ban urged the two sides to avoid claiming ownership of the area to avoid undermining a peaceful resolution.

"The parties must refrain from provoking each other or engaging in any military confrontation in Abyei as this could result in further loss of life and significantly affect the future relationship between North and South," he said.

Leaders of the north and the South have a range of issues to address as their separation nears, including Abyei.

Ban said the two sides should make negotiations on the disputed region a priority, joining the United States in calling for a resolution to outstanding concerns.

"It is important that both sides ... focus intensely on trying to resolve the key issues that have not been completed ... Abyei is one of them," Johnnie Carson, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said last month.

The referendum to split was part of a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of violence between the north and oil-rich south. The conflict led to the deaths of 2 million people, many from starvation.

CNN's Faith Karimi contributed to this report.

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