South Sudan government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin said yesterday that South Sudan is disappointed by a report by the AU to the UN Security Council that he said portrayed South Sudan as the aggressor in the hostilities between the two countries.
He says the regional bloc, IGAD, should take over the mediation talks if the African Union cannot succeed.
Benjamin says Sudan is bombarding disputed oil-rich regions in South Sudan.
South Sudan seceded from Sudan last year, but hostilities between the two sides continue.
Sudan’s army late Sunday claimed South Sudanese forces launched another push into the Heglig oil region, adding to mutual accusations surrounding stalled crisis talks in the Ethiopian capital.
“In South Kordofan state today the South Sudanese Army crossed the Sudanese international border and went three kilometres (two miles) into the Heglig area,” army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad was quoted by the official SUNA news agency as saying.
The disputed border between the two countries is undemarcated, and tensions along the frontier have mounted since South Sudan separated in July last year after an overwhelming vote following Africa’s longest war.
Talks in Addis Ababa were called after clashes between north and South yesterday in the Heglig border area sparked global alarm and fears of a wider war.
On the eve of those talks late Friday, Sudan’s army alleged the South sent cannons and tanks to back a rebel attack on Talodi, about 100 km northeast of Heglig.
It said the rebels were defeated, suffering heavy losses.
The insurgents, from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), denied receiving Southern support and said the battle for Talodi was continuing for a third day on Sunday.
Late Saturday the Sudanese Army spokesman alleged a battalion of South Sudanese troops had crossed the contested border and was moving toward Talodi.
Juba’s chief negotiator Pagan Amum dismissed the accusation as “categorically untrue” and instead said the north was planning further attacks along the disputed frontier.
“We are here ... to attempt to make peace; the government of Sudan is waging war on South Sudan,” Amum said in Addis Ababa.
“The government of Sudan is bombing us as we speak,” said Amum, reporting fresh battles in the towns of Manga and Panakuach in Unity state.
A member of the Khartoum delegation, said Sudan “did not declare war and we have no intention to declare war.”
Teams from both countries have been in the Ethiopian capital for the African Union-led negotiations since Saturday, but so far there have been no Khartoum-Juba talks.
