Sudan’s president Omar Hassan al-Bashir all but declared war against his newly independent neighbour yesterday, vowing to teach south Sudan a “final lesson by force” after it occupied a disputed oil field.
South Sudan accused Bashir of planning “genocide” and said it would fight to protect its people. Mounting violence since Sudan split into two countries last year has raised the prospect of two sovereign African states waging war against each other openly for the first time since Ethiopia fought newly independent Eritrea between 1998 and 2000. Both are poor countries – South Sudan is one of the poorest in the world – and the dispute between them has already halted nearly all the oil production that underpins both economies. – (Reuters)