Northern forces seized the disputed town of Abyei last month, raising fears of a new north-south war Monday, June 13, 2011
Sudan 'offers troop withdrawal'
Northern forces seized the disputed town of Abyei last month, raising fears of a new north-south war Sudan's president and his southern counterpart are meeting to try to end recent fighting along their common border, less than a month before the south's independence.
Some 140,000 people have fled the clashes, aid workers say.
The African Union is hosting the peace talks between President Omar al-Bashir and the south's Salva Kiir.
The south's secession follows decades of conflict with the north which left some 1.5 million people dead.
The fighting along the border has raised fears that the conflict could resume.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi are mediating the talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
An AU statement said the talks would focus on the withdrawal of armed forces from the disputed town of Abyei, which northern forces seized last month.
It said the talks would discuss "the dispatch of an African-led international mission to provide security, to provide conditions for the speedy return of displaced people and steps towards a final settlement of the status of the area".
Reuters news agency quotes unnamed diplomats as saying that President Bashir had agreed to withdraw his forces from the town but this has not been confirmed.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is to arrive in Ethiopian capital on Monday in the latest leg of her Africa tour, is to meet Mr Kiir but not Mr Bashir, one of her aides told the AFP news agency.
Human rights groups have warned that southerners are being targeted by pro-northern forces in the neighbouring South Kordofan state, which is in the north but is home to many pro-south communities and where there have also been recent clashes.
A northern official has warned the south against supporting "rebels" in South Kordofan, according to the state-run Sudan News Agency, Suna.
Haj Majid Suwar said unless this stopped, it could jeopardise the north's recognition of the south's independence on 9 July.
But a southern military spokesman denied there were any links between the southern army and the pro-south groups fighting in South Kordofan, even though they used to be part of the same rebel group which fought the north for many years.
On Friday, the south accused the northern military of bombing areas in Unity State in order to seize oil fields from the south.
The north-south war ended with a 2005 peace deal, under which the mainly Christian and animist south held a referendum in January on whether to secede from the largely Arabic-speaking, Muslim north.
Some 99% of voters opted for independence. President Bashir said he would accept the verdict of the south, where most of Sudan's oil fields lie.
Sudan: A country divided
Geography Ethnic groups Infant mortality Water & sanitation Education Food insecurity Oil fields
Show regions
The great divide across Sudan is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. Southern Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.
Sudan's arid northern regions are home mainly to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in Southern Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own traditional beliefs and languages.
The health inequalities in Sudan are illustrated by infant mortality rates. In Southern Sudan, one in 10 children die before their first birthday. Whereas in the more developed northern states, such as Gezira and White Nile, half of those children would be expected to survive.
The gulf in water resources between north and south is stark. In Khartoum, River Nile, and Gezira states, two-thirds of people have access to piped drinking water and pit latrines. In the south, boreholes and unprotected wells are the main drinking sources. More than 80% of southerners have no toilet facilities whatsoever.
Throughout Sudan, access to primary school education is strongly linked to household earnings. In the poorest parts of the south, less than 1% of children finish primary school. Whereas in the wealthier north, up to 50% of children complete primary level education.
Conflict and poverty are the main causes of food insecurity in Sudan. The residents of war-affected Darfur and Southern Sudan are still greatly dependent on food aid. Far more than in northern states, which tend to be wealthier, more urbanised and less reliant on agriculture.
Sudan exports billions of dollars of oil per year. Southern states produce more than 80% of it, but receive only 50% of the revenue, exacerbating tensions with the north. The oil-producing region of Abyei was due to hold a separate vote on whether to join the north or the south, but it has been postponed indefinitely.
This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-africa-13747039
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