Africa

Fighting in south Sudan kills 30

  • 6 February 2011
  • From the section Africa
Aerial view of Malakal
Image caption The fighting began in Malakal on Thursday, and spread throughout Upper Nile state

At least 30 soldiers have been killed in southern Sudan during internal fighting among troops of the national army, state officials said.

The clashes in Melut and Paloich, in Upper Nile state, were sparked when soldiers of one unit refused to redeploy with their weapons to the north.

Southern Sudan is waiting for the final results of its independence referendum.

Provisional results say 99% of voters opted to secede from the north.

The mutiny in Sudan's army first broke out on Thursday in the politically sensitive southern town of Makalal.

Twenty people were killed during heavy fighting, including two children and a Sudanese driver working for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, who were caught in the crossfire.

The fighting then spread to both Melut and the oil-rich settlement of Paloich on Friday and Saturday.

At least 30 people were killed, all of them soldiers, according to state officials.

Malakal is currently patrolled by a combined military unit made up of the north's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

The mutiny began when southern soldiers in the SAF unit who resisted redeployment to the north began exchanging fire with other members of the same SAF unit.

Southern Sudan is set to become the world's newest nation on 9 July 2011.

Its referendum was part of a deal to end decades of conflicts between north and south, driven by religious and ethnic divides.

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