Sudan’s army denied the accusations, however, saying no military operation had been conducted on Sunday following a series of clashes between the two armies in the contested border region in recent days.
“The government of Sudan attacked Manga today at two in the morning,” Pagan Amum, head of South Sudan’s negotiating team, told reporters in Addis Ababa where the African Union is trying to restart talks between the neighbors.
“Panakuach, also in Unity State, has been subjected to aerial bombardment today, including attacks by helicopter gunship,” he said. “As we speak, Sudan is bombing South Sudan.”
Sudanese army spokesman Sawarmi Khalid Saad denied the allegation. “There is no military operation today,” he said.
The United Nations and the United States fear the clashes could escalate and re-ignite a civil war between the mainly Muslim north and the South where most adhere to Christian and animist beliefs.
South Sudan became independent from Khartoum under a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war that killed two million people.
Both sides were supposed to resume talks this weekend but African Union officials said key members of Sudan’s delegation such as its defense minister and the chief-of-staff of its army had not yet arrived.
The two officials were expected in Addis Ababa “tonight or tomorrow morning,” a member of Sudan’s delegation told Reuters.
“The government of Sudan did not send the leader of their team. It is now clear that they have different intentions,” said Amum, the head of Juba’s delegation.
As well as agreeing a halt to further hostilities, the two sides need to decide how much the landlocked South must pay to export its crude oil through Sudan. Juba has shut down its entire oil production to stop Khartoum taking oil as compensation for what it calls unpaid transit fees.
Both countries have yet to mark the 1,800 km (1,200 mile) long border, much of which is disputed, or found a solution to the disputed border region of Abyei. Both sides also continue to accuse one another of supporting rebels on each other’s territory.
