105 Dead in Clashes in South Sudan

President Bashir accepts southern referendum

(NEWSER) - Handed final voting results that showed roughly 99% of Sudan's south wanted to secede, President Omar al-Bashir today agreed to allow part of his country to become its own nation, the New York Times reports. The vote, held last month, reflected years of exploitation and civil war between the Islamic north and the largely animist and Christian south. “Today we received these results and we accept and welcome these results because they represent the will of the southern people,” Bashir said on state TV. More»

Rising gas prices and more 'lost boys' could result

(NEWSER) - The conflict between Sudan and South Sudan may seem far-flung, but Scott Baldauf of the Christian Science Monitor runs down five reasons Americans should pay attention, including:

• Gas prices: They may have eased in the US lately , but instability in oil-producing nations could change that in a hurry. One of the main disputes in the Sudan conflict is over how to share oil revenue.
• China: Beijing has a big stake here, given that it buys 60% of Sudan's oil. China generally doesn't get involved in internal disputes, but it is already "deeply involved, behind the scenes" in trying to find a resolution. It could be a precedent-setter.
• More 'lost boys': Decades of previous fighting led to a generation of refugees known as the Lost Boys of Sudan. The new fighting already has pushed 35,000 people from their homes. Is a new generation of lost boys imminent?

President Salva Kiir says Sudan's attacks amount to declaration of war

(NEWSER) - As far as South Sudan is concerned, Omar al-Bashir has crossed the Rubicon. In a meeting today with Chinese President Hu Jintao, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir said it was "a very critical moment for the Republic of South Sudan because our neighbor in Khartoum has declared war," the AP reports. In reality neither Sudan nor South Sudan has formally declared war on the other, but you can see how Kiir might interpret yesterday's bombing as an act of war. Al-Bashir has also openly declared the South his " enemy ." Kiir arrived in Beijing yesterday to ask China for economic and diplomatic support. More»

3 killed as Sudan bombs South Sudan

(NEWSER) - An old war is returning to the world's newest country . Sudanese warplanes bombed two towns across the border in South Sudan today, inching the two countries, former civil war opponents, closer to full-scale war, CNN reports. At least three people were killed. "I can see market stalls burning in Rubkona in the background and the body of a small child burning," a Reuters correspondent at the scene said. More»

North shells border city taken by South

(NEWSER) - Violence is coursing through Sudan once more, after South Sudanese troops took over an oil-rich border town last week. Sudan reportedly killed five civilians in air attacks on the disputed town of Heglig yesterday; today it began shelling the area, a spokesman for the South tells the AP . Sudan has officially declared the South's government an "enemy" as fighting spreads, the Telegraph reports. "We announce that we will clash with SPLM"—the governing party—"until we end her government of South Sudan," said a Sudanese official. More»