Defence & Arms
Southern Troops, Arab Tribesmen Clash in Sudan
By Angola Press 30/4/08
May 3, 2008 - 12:24:08 PM

The fighting broke out in the Kailak-Kharasana area in southern Kordofan province. Claimed by both north and south, the area has become a potential flashpoint that could wreck the fragile peace between the ethnic African south and Sudan`s Arab-dominated government in the capital Khartoum.

The north and south fought a 21-year civil war that ended with a peace agreement in 2005 that resulted in an autonomous government in the south.

The latest fighting erupted after local Misseriah Arab tribesmen attacked a garrison of southern forces whom they maintain should not be in the disputed region.

The state minister for humanitarian affairs, Ahmed Mohammed Haroun, told the official Sudanese News Agency, SUNA, that calm had returned to the area after a six-man committee, including northern and southern officials, brokered an agreement.