JUBA – About 40 people, many of them civilians, were killed in violence in the Abyei region days ago, a South Sudanese government official told (Reuters) on Monday, and hundreds sought refuge in a compound of U.N. peacekeepers.
Clashes are frequent in the Abyei area between rival Dinka factions over a dispute over the location of an administrative border, where large tax revenues are collected from cross-border trade.
Abyei is oil-rich and is administered jointly by South Sudan and Sudan and each claims a right to it.
“The second and third of February witnessed attacks that included setting fire to several markets and looting property, killing 19 civilians and wounding 18 others,” said Boulos Koç, the region’s information minister.
He said 18 other people were killed in separate attacks on Sunday. Among the dead were three children and a South Sudanese who worked for Médecins Sans Frontières.
The clashes also displaced hundreds and sought refuge in the compound of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), a United Nations peacekeeping force.
Koj said young men from neighbouring Warrap state and from an armed group linked to spiritual leader Gai Mashik, a leader of an insurgency, had taken part in the violence.
Willima Wall, information minister in Warrap state, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in South Sudan and the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In late January, at least 54 people, including women, children and two UN peacekeepers, were killed in attacks in the same area.
Koj said more than 2,000 people were now sheltering in the U.N. Interim Security Force compound for Abyei because of fighting in January and in recent days.
(Reuters) – Al-Yurae
