Thousands flee as city flashpoint seizes army of Sudan

JUBA, Sudan (AFP) - thousands of civilians were fleeing the fighting in Sudan? s disputed Abyei district Sunday, as the army admitted South Northern troops were in full possession of its main city.

"The fighting have been very, very bad," said Philip Aguer, spokesman for the South? s of the people of Sudan? s army of liberation.

Later Saturday, troops in the North of the Sudan Armed Forces took the town of Abyei, focal point of murderous tensions between North and South in the period preceding the recognition provided for the independence of the South at the end of JulySaid Aguer.

"People have fled the region, because the bombing was indiscriminate - bombs and air tanks on the ground.".

"They come in Abyei with a complete soldiers division, while we do not have a force of combat on the ground.".

Faithful to the SPLA troops have retreated in the South of the district of dispute on the border with the North, he added.

"We don?". t know now the exact location of their "said Aguer." "" People are missing. They were attacked very heavily. ?

Aguer stated that there was no planned immediate counter-attack.

"As SPLA, we cannot declare war as an army." We are waiting for the Government of southern Sudan to decide what is the next step. ?

The Organization of the United Nations called Saturday for "immediate cessation of hostilities".

Their base at Abyei were identified, with a landing within the enclosure mortar shells but it has not occurred victim, said a spokesman.

A delegation of the United Nations Security Council arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday.

Aid agency doctors without borders (MSF), which runs health clinics in the town of Abyei and 40 km (25 miles) South of Agok said in a statement that the "whole population of the town of Abyei fled the city."

Her Agok clinic had received 42 people injured by Saturday evening.

"MSF in Agok teams are waiting to meet an additional influx of wounded," the statement added, but it had also suspended work to Abyei, said. "".

Fighting in Abyei were opposite the former civil war enemies against each other since January when it was due to vote on its future alongside a referendum on independence for the South.

But the plebiscite was postponed indefinitely as the North and South disagree on who should be eligible to vote in an area where conflicting loyalties and land disputes keep high voltages.

A statement by the White House called on the armed forces of Sudan "to immediately cease all offensive operations in Abyei and to withdraw its forces."

"Failure to do so could back the process of normalization of relations between the United States and the Sudan and inhibit the ability of the international community to advance critical issues for the future of Sudan," the statement warned.