South Sudan Battles Rebels

Posted on Mar 12, 2011

AP / Tim Freccia

Vehicles of the U.N. peacekeeping force pass through the Abyei region of southern Sudan on Friday.

New fighting erupted in Sudan’s recently declared autonomous southern half when rebel forces staged an attack on the city of Malakal. The battle comes as South Sudan counts down to its official secession on July 9.  —JCL

Al-Jazeera English:

Rebel fighters have attacked the capital of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, the southern army has said.

The number of casualties is not known, but the attack on Saturday in Malakal, one of the south’s three main settlements, marked an escalation in a wave of clashes between the south’s army and rebel fighters.

The fighting has raised fears over the stability of the region in the countdown to its secession—due on July 9.

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