Days of clashes between SPLM fighters and the army have destroyed much of Abyei

Fierce clashes between the Sudanese army and armed men of the Sudan People’s Liberation movement (SPLM) erupted on Tuesday despite earlier talks to try and find an end to the violence.
 
The status of the area remains contested between north and south Sudan three years after the end of the country's civil war.
 
Clashes in the area were sporadic, with the AFP news agency reporting one aid worker as saying: "Fighting started this morning at 4am [01:00 GMT]. The SPLA attacked. There's a lull at the moment, but I don't think anybody thinks it's over."
 
The Sudanese army has issued a statement holding the SPLM responsible for the deteriorating situation in Abyei.
 
But Edward Nino, political supervisor of the SPLM, denied the group had given up its commitment to the peace deal.

UN evacuation
 
Tuesday's violence erupted one day after UN agencies and aid workers began distributing food to some of the 30,000 to 50,000 people displaced by fighting last week that levelled the marketplace in Abyei.
 
The UN warned on Monday that continued insecurity posed challenges to humanitarian relief efforts in the area.
 
The organisation last week evacuated its entire civilian staff from the town following days of fighting between government forces and the SPLA.
 
While the north currently holds special administrative rights over Abyei, a referendum in 2011 will decide whether it retains its special administrative status in north Sudan or is incorporated into the south.
 
The clashes began on Wednesday and have exacerbated tensions between north and south Sudan, which fought a 21-year civil war that ended with a peace agreement in 2005.
 
But the impasse over the Abyei area, whose oil wealth is contested by both north and south Sudan, is one of the stumbling blocks delaying implementation of the peace deal.

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