Security Council demands rival Sudans end fighting
Warns that conflict could turn into full-scale war
United Nations The UN Security Council demanded on Thursday that Sudan and South Sudan stop border clashes which it said threatened to return the east African neighbours to a full-scale war.
A statement from the 15-nation body also insisted that Khartoum stop air strikes and Juba withdraw troops from a vital oil field. Fighting along the ill-defined border between the former civil-war foes has led to a standoff over Heglig oilfield after it was seized on Tuesday by troops from South Sudan, which declared independence last year.
Distrust runs deeps between the neighbours, who are at loggerheads over the position of their border, how much the landlocked south should pay to transport its oil through Sudan, and the division of national debt, amongst other issues.
"The recent violence threatens to return both countries to full-scale war and the period of tragic loss of life and suffering, destroyed infrastructure, and economic devastation, which they have worked so hard and long to overcome," a statement from the Security Council said. "The Security Council demands a complete, immediate, and unconditional end to all fighting; withdrawal of [South Sudan's Army] from Heglig; end to [Sudanese Armed Forces] aerial bombardments; end to repeated incidents of cross-border violence between Sudan and South Sudan; and an end to support by both sides to proxies in the other country," it said.
