[An Nahar] Sudanese troops clashed with South Sudanese forces along their restive border, South Sudan's army said Thursday, a day ahead of planned talks between the presidents of the two rival nations.Sudanese planes also dropped bombs as the rival forces clashed on Wednesday in South Sudan's remote north Raja region in Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, said the South's army front man Philip Aguer.
"They attacked on Wednesday, and the fighting continued until late in the afternoon.... It is a remote region so we are still awaiting updates on casualties," he said.
United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
peacekeepers could not confirm the reports and the claims could not be independently verified.
Sudanese army officials could not immediately be reached.
The accusations come ahead of a meeting scheduled for Friday between Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to
ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
and South Sudan's Salva Kiir, to push stalled economic and security deals, including a demilitarized border buffer zone.
However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said Kiir was still committed to the talks.
"The talks will still take place as planned, we have given our word and we are committed to them," Benjamin told AFP.
"Our chief negotiator Pagan Amum is already in Addis Ababa.... This summit is important because we want to ensure the full implementation of the agreements we have already signed."
State-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) announced that Sudan's president will also attend the scheduled talks.