Several dozen people have reportedly been killed following a spike of intercommunal violence in the disputed Abyei region on the Sudan – South Sudan border, according to the United Nations emergency response agency.
Fighting in the oil-rich Abyei region had left at least 36 dead, with an unknown number injured and reportedly displacing 50,000 people.
In a statement released on Wednesday, OCHA said: “Intercommunal tensions increased in recent weeks in the Abyei Administrative Area (AAA), allegedly driven by longstanding territorial disputes, inter-tribal tensions and revenge seeking.”
The fighting started around 10 February but intensified in early March, leading to the suspension of humanitarian operations in the affected areas with aid workers relocated to safety.
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Cattle herders and Sudanese forces blamed
Abyei has been contested since South Sudan won independence from Sudan in 2011, although there have long been tensions between the Ngok Dinka community and Misseriya herders who cross the region looking for grazing pastures.
AAA spokesman Ajak Deng reported that two deadly attacks last weekend were carried out by Misseriya herders and heavily armed members of the Sudan Armed Forces.
He claims six people were killed last Saturday and a further 27 on Sunday, adding that the situation remains tense and people are living in fear.
Meanwhile the US embassies in Juba and Khartoum issued a joint statement voicing their “great concern” at the escalation of violence in the area, calling “on all sides to cease reprisals and return to dialogue.”
Abyei has been under UN protection since South Sudan’s independence, and the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei deployed there also voiced its concern at the bloodshed, saying the loss of life and insecurity “is causing untold humanitarian suffering on the people as well as reversing gains made towards achieving peaceful coexistence in Abyei.”
