Continued violent clashes in the disputed Sudan-South Sudan border have resulted in the death of at least 54 people, including women, children, and two UN peacekeepers.
The latest fatalities happened in what officials called the deadliest in a spate of incidents since 2021 related to a boundary dispute. The raids were carried out by armed young men from South Sudan's Warrap State.
On Monday, the information minister for Abyei said that the soldiers marched into their region on Saturday. The area is an oil-rich area that is jointly administered by South Sudan and Sudan, which have both staked claims to it.
Koch added that because of the current dire security situation that they are facing, which has resulted in fears and panic, they were forced to impose a curfew. Among those who were killed was a Ghanaian peacekeeper from a United Nations force that was based in Abyei.
A day after the first peacekeeper was killed, a second one, who was from Pakistan, lost his life along with four colleagues while they were transporting civilians from a UNISFA base to a hospital, as per Reuters.
The Abyei information minister noted that hundreds of displaced civilians sought shelter at a UNISFA base amid the violence. Warrap State's information minister, William Wol, said that his government will conduct an investigation in coordination with the Abyei administration into the matter.
There have been many reported clashes in Abyei between rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group. The violence is born out of a dispute over the location of an administrative boundary where significant tax revenue is collected from cross-border trade.
Koch added that young Dinka men from Warrap and the forces of a rebel leader from the Nuer ethnic group are responsible for the attacks against Dinkas and Nuers in Abyei. The civil war in South Sudan erupted soon after the region won independence from Sudan.
Violent Clashes
Between 2013 and 2018, the horrific war in South Sudan killed thousands as fighting continued between rival factions. Furthermore, violent clashes between various armed groups have continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians, more after South Sudan deployed troops to Abyei last March, according to Aljazeera.
After South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011, the Abyei region's ownership status was left unresolved. Previously, an African Union panel proposed a referendum for the oil-rich territory but there was disagreement over who could vote on the resolution.
On Monday, Britain, Norway, and the United States issued a joint statement saying that they were deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in Sudan. They added that all leaders who have influence with involved communities and who fail to use it to support peace in the region are disregarding the interests of their people.
The UN special envoy for the Horn of Africa, Hanna Tetteh, said that Abyei's proximity to the violent fighting threatened to destabilize the already fragile region. She added that the Sudanese crisis has also effectively put on hold talks between leaders over Abyei's ownership, said France24.
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