UN officials heard sporadic gunfire outside Abyei town later
in the morning, said UN spokeswoman Hua Jiang, but later found no signs of an
attack. A diplomatic source said they had earlier witnessed the burial of 33
bodies of people caught up in the violence.
Analysts say Abyei is one of the most likely places for
fighting to break out in Sudan as it prepares for the secession of its south,
due to take place in July.
Southerners overwhelmingly voted in a referendum in January
to declare independence, under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil
war with the north.
Both sides remain at loggerheads over who owns Abyei, a
fertile, oil-producing border area used both by northern Arab Misseriya nomads
and the south-linked Dinka Ngok people.
Washington, the United Nations and other world powers that
helped broker the accord have urged Sudan’s leaders to settle the Abyei crisis
and avoid a return to civil war.
The north-south conflict killed an estimated 4 million
people and destabilised the region. The northern and southern armies have
clashed in Abyei since the accord.
Dinka officials in Abyei said Misseriya fighters, backed by
Khartoum-supported militias, attacked a police station in the village of Todach
on Sunday and Monday, then moved on to the village of Maker on Wednesday.
Misseriya officials accused south Sudan’s SPLA army of
starting the fighting by attacking a nomadic camp. Khartoum and the northern
and southern armies have denied any involvement.
“In the early hours of the morning (on Thursday) 300 women
and children left, moving further south,” said the UN spokeswoman.
A diplomatic source told Reuters: “On Wednesday we witnessed
the burial of 33 bodies. We think they were the victims of the past clashes.”
The source said some of the bodies wore police uniforms and all were
southerners. The burial happened close to Abyei town, south of the scene of the
reported fighting.
Tensions have been exacerbated by the onset of the migration
season, when the Misseriya drive their livestock through Abyei, into the south
searching for pasture.
An earlier deal over guaranteeing the route stalled when
Dinka chiefs declined to talk to a Misseriya delegation, saying it was too
junior, said other diplomatic sources.
Estimates of the death count have varied widely. Abyei’s
joint Dinka-Misseriya administration said at least 10 people died on Sunday and
six on Wednesday.
SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer estimated more than 70 may have
died since the start of the week.
