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Sudan reinforces army in South Darfur ahead of split

By AFP
Sudan A child displaying bullets he collected from the ground in Rounyn, North Darfur, in March.  By Albert Gonzalez Farran AFPUNAMIDFile
JUN 22, 2011 LISTEN
A child displaying bullets he collected from the ground in Rounyn, North Darfur, in March. By Albert Gonzalez Farran (AFP/UNAMID/File)

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudan is beefing up security in areas of South Darfur close to the southern border for fear of unrest around the country's imminent partition, the state's deputy governor said on Wednesday.

"The state has started to increase security in areas on the border with south Sudan to be ready for any disturbances coinciding with separation," Abdelkarim Musa was quoted as saying by the Sudan Media Centre, a website close to the security forces.

"The state has deployed security forces so that they are ready to face the new situation in the south and to secure South Darfur from any attack that might come from the armed rebel groups," Musa added.

Tensions are running high along Sudan's porous north-south border, which runs to more than 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles), but whose demarcation the two sides have yet to fully agree on, just weeks ahead of southern independence on July 9.

Some 20 percent remains disputed, including two areas along the border with South Darfur.

The Sudan People's Liberation Army of the south accused Khartoum of deploying troops along their shared frontier last week, after the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), or northern army, shelled the southern border town of Agok.

On Wednesday, the SAF confirmed that extra troops had been deployed in parts of South Darfur, without giving details of numbers, but said the move was "normal," given the presence of Darfur rebels in those areas.

"To us as soldiers, the practice of relocating troops is normal, because we are free to move our troops where we want, when we want, and in those areas, the Darfur rebels are active," the army's spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told AFP.

The south has consistently rejected northern claims that it has been aiding the Darfur rebels.

© 2011 AFP

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