UN: Continued differences could lead to Sudan-South Sudan conflict

Sudan and South Sudan have so far failed to resolve their differences over the border region of Abyei, a situation that could lead to renewed conflict between the parties, the United Nations said Thursday, dpa reported.

The oil-rich Abyei region straddles the border between Sudan and South Sudan, but its political status remains undetermined after South Sudan became a sovereign nation earlier this year.

The UN undersecretary general for peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, told the UN Security Council that Khartoum and Juba need to resume negotiations in order to thwart renewed conflict.

Ladsous said talks had made progress on issues like oil and transitional financial arrangements, but not on border demarcation, and their positions remain "far apart for an agreement to be achieved."

Differences also remained on working out a safe demilitarized border zone.

The UN has deployed more than 2,800 peacekeeping troops to the Abyei region to maintain security and plans to add more troops later this month, Ladsous said.