Sudanese army takes control in Abyei

Sudan's army has launched repeated air strikes on the southern army in Unity state in a bid to seize oilfields there weeks before the south's independence, a southern army spokesman said.Philip Aguer, spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) of the south, said the SPLA was on "maximum alert" and strengthening its defensive positions, fearing the start of an invasion to seize the oilfields."SAF aircraft bombed the area of Yau, in Unity state, many times on Thursday," Aguer told AFP, referring to the north's Sudanese Armed Forces.

South Sudan's minister of cooperatives and rural development Jimmy Lemi Milla and his bodyguard were shot dead in Juba on Wednesday, the southern army's spokesman said, in what appeared to be a personal dispute."There was shooting at the ministries (complex), in which the minister of cooperatives and rural development was killed, as well as his bodyguard," the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesman Philip Aguer told AFP.

Thousands of civilians were fleeing fighting in Sudan?s contested Abyei district on Sunday, as the southern army admitted northern troops were in full control of its main town."The fighting has been very, very bad," said Philip Aguer, spokesman for the south?s Sudan People?s Liberation Army.Late on Saturday, northern troops of the Sudan Armed Forces took the town of Abyei, focal point of deadly tensions between north and south in the run-up to the planned recognition of southern independence in late July, Aguer said.

At least 16 people died when rebels attacked south Sudanese troops in troubled Jonglei state, breaking a ceasefire signed last month, a southern army spokesman said on Thursday."We are still waiting for full details of the casualties," said Philip Aguer, spokesman for the south's Sudan People?s Liberation Army (SPLA), adding that he feared the death toll would rise."The rebels launched their attacks on Wednesday at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) killing four of our soldiers, but the army fought back and 12 of the attackers were killed," Aguer told AFP.

Clashes between the southern army and a rebel militia group in south Sudan's Upper Nile state have left more than 40 people dead, including seven soldiers, southern army spokesman Philip Aguer said on Monday."There was fighting on Sunday between the SPLA and a former militia group under Ulony, a militia commander who had been in the service of Khartoum for a long time," the spokesman for the Sudan People's Liberation Army told AFP.

Clashes erupted in Abyei between north and south Sudanese troops, the southern army said, just days after a deal to demilitarise the disputed area, and as Khartoum stepped up air strikes in neighbouring South Kordofan.Members of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF -- northern army) exchanged fire with the Sudan People's Liberation Army at the Kiir, or Bahr al-Arab, river, the southern army's spokesman told AFP, without providing details of casualties.

A spate of attacks by rebels against the south Sudanese army in the region's troubled Jonglei state killed 105 people, 39 of them civilians, an army spokesman said on Friday, leaving a hard-won truce in tatters."On the side of the military that includes the SPLA, the police and the prison services, 20 were killed in Fangak town, while 30 of Athor's men were killed," Philip Aguer told AFP.

Clashes between rebels and south Sudanese troops in troubled Jonglei state have killed 105 people, a southern army spokesman said on Friday, a dramatic jump from an earlier death toll of 16."On the side of the military that includes the SPLA, the police and the prison services, 20 were killed in Fangak town, while 30 of Athor's men were killed," Philip Aguer told AFP.