Arab nomads have accused former southern Sudanese rebels of killing at least 58 people and wounding 85 others during fighting in the western region of Darfur.
But the group blamed for the attack, the SPLA, said on Saturday it was their forces who had been attacked in the Balballa sector of the western state of Bahr al-Ghazal, by men from the army of the Khartoum-based central government.
“A company of 120 SPLA soldiers was attacked on Friday night by armed men wearing uniforms of the northern army that were heavily equipped,” Major General Kuol Deim Kuol of the southern former rebel SPLA said.
Sudan army denial
The Sudanese army denied the SPLA’s claim that it had taken part in the fighting.
“We were not involved in these clashes,” Sawarmi Khaled Saad, an army spokesman, said.
“If one of the partners in the comprehensive peace agreement has such allegations to make about the other, the joint defence council should speak about it.”
The Sudanese government signed a peace agreement with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in 2005 ending decades of a civil war and leaving the former rebel movement to retain its army.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow, reporting from Khartoum, said: “UN sources have confirmed to us that the attack took place inside Darfur region and it is part of the border and such incidents are frequent.”
But he said that it was unclear whose account of events was correct.
“According to the SPLA, the army of the south, the attack was carried out by the Sudanese armed forces where they say they attacked in Bahr al-Ghazal state.
“But the Sudanese forces are saying that the attack was carried out by the SPLA on one of their Arab tribes in Darfur and they had a clash with the militias of this particular tribe.”
Sudan’s oil-producing semi-autonomous south keeps a separate army under a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war with the north.
Southerners will vote in referendum on whether to break away from the north on January 9, 2011.
Regional tensions
Aliou, of the Rezeigat tribe, said tensions remained high in the region, which is plagued by fighting between rival ethnic groups, following Friday’s clashes.
“There are many members of the Rezeigat tribe who are heading to the site of the clashes in order to help out,” he said.
“There are also reinforcements from the south Sudan army coming from three cities Raja, Aweil and Wau.”
More than 400 people have been killed across the south in cattle raids and revenge attacks this year, according to the United Nations.
The violence came as Sudan awaits the results of presidential, parliamentary and regional elections, which the election commission has said could be announced on Monday.
“We hope to be able to announce the result of the national presidential election, or of the presidential election for south Sudan, on Monday, God willing,” Al-Hadi Mohammed Ahmed, a senior official with the national election commission (NEC), said.
Omar al-Bashir, the incumbent president, is expected to win re-election easily after most opposition parties boycotted the poll, while his National Congress Party is expected to dominate the federal government.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement is expected to maintain its hold on the south.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies