Sudan mission extended by UN

United Nations: The Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to extend the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan and called for demarcation of the contested oil-rich border region between the north and south where recent fighting left dozens dead.

Some 10,000 UN peacekeepers are enforcing a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war between the ethnic African south and Sudan's Arab-dominated government in the capital Khartoum - but peace remains fragile. It is separate from the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region.

The disputed region in southern Kordofan province where four days of fighting between south Sudanese troops and Arab tribesman ended Tuesday is claimed by north and south, like the nearby oil rich region of Abyei.

Both have become potential flashpoints that could wreck the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Report

In a report to the Security Council earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said recent clashes and tensions in the Abyei area 'represent a potential threat to the agreement' and to the national unity government in Khartoum that now includes members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement which led the war in the south.

"I urge the parties to summon the political will to address difficult outstanding issues, particularly the status of Abyei and the disputed January 1, 1956 border," Ban said.

"Further delay in resolving those issues may complicate the situation and lead to unintended conflict."