At least 26 killed in clashes along Sudan-South Sudan border region

At least 26 people have been killed and 82 others injured in days of intercommunal fighting in a disputed region on the border between South Sudan and Sudan.

Reporting the death toll on Thursday, the United Nations said it had reinforced its security presence around Abyei town.

Clashes are frequent in Abyei, and the region’s status has remained unresolved since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan and became a nation in 2011.

The violence erupted at Amiet Common Market in response to separate killings of a Ngok Dinka man on Monday and a Misseriya man on Tuesday, the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) said in a statement.

UNISFA said the initial killings escalated tensions between the two rival communities around the market.

Similar fighting has broken out between Ngok Dinka and Misseriya pastoral communities that often involves grazing lands and watering points for their animals.

The Misseriya, Arab pastoralists from Sudan, migrate south into Abyei during the dry season in search of grazing land, sometimes clashing with the Ngok Dinka, the region’s permanent residents.

⁠”We are actively engaging with the leaders of the two communities who have reiterated their commitment to dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the hostilities,” said Lieutenant General Ganesh Kumar Shreshta of UNISFA.