Hundreds of troops to deploy in Sudan's Abyei

Khartoum: A joint north-south force will begin deploying on Monday in Sudan's Abyei region to end violence there, an army commander said on Sunday.

A battalion of 320 troops from the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army and 319 troops from the north's Sudan Armed forces will patrol the disputed oil-rich region.

"We will start taking the forces...of the battalion from tomorrow onwards," Commander Valentino Tokmac said.

Recent violence in Abyei has killed dozens of people and displaced up to 50,000 people.