Dozens found dead in disputed Sudan oil area
Posted 27 minutes ago
The United Nations has so far found 89 bodies in the disputed oil-rich Abyei region of Sudan from fighting that erupted last month, says a senior UN official.
A joint north-south force is due to be deployed there this week after the clashes raised fears of a return to all-out civil war.
Both north and south covet the central region, home to one of Sudan's two main oil fields.
The UN official, who declined to be named, said 89 bodies had been found in Abyei.
"Dead military are 68," the official said.
A joint north-south force had been due to deploy on Monday (local time) but that has now been put back to Tuesday because of administrative delays in flying them in on UN planes.
Force commander Valentino Tokmac said they were still waiting for tents, vehicles and uniforms from the northern and southern armies.
"The problem of vehicles will not stop us," he said.
"All 639 soldiers are due to be on the ground by June 18 and they will get 10 days of training before they fully take control of Abyei."
Last week, the two sides agreed on temporary borders for Abyei and that oil revenues would be split roughly half and half in future, according to a copy of the agreement.
The south had said the north had taken all the oil revenues from Abyei - amounting to more than$US1 billion - since a north-south peace deal in 2005.
Sudan produces over 500,000 barrels per day of crude.
The parties agreed to international arbitration if no final agreement is reached on Abyei but what will be referred for arbitration is yet to be decided.
Sudan's north-south civil war killed 2 million people and drove more than 4 million from their homes in a dispute spanning five decades, complicated by issues of oil, religion, ethnicity and ideology.
- Reuters
