The United Nations called Monday for a political settlement between North and South Sudan to prevent a renewed civil war as Southern Sudan plans to move ahead with an independence referendum in January, dpa reported.
Alain Le Roy, chief of UN peacekeeping operations, told a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan that increased security measures and peacekeepers alone would not prevent a new north-south conflict.
"Our best available tool against a return to war remains our commitment in favor of a political agreement of the parties on the key pending issues," Le Roy said. "It is all the more urgent that progress be achieved in the upcoming meetings in Addis Ababa."
Khartoum and Southern Sudan signed a peace agreement in 2005 to share government power, ending decades of bloodshed. The agreement allows the south to hold a referendum on January 9 to determine its own political future, and the south already said it would secede.
A UN peacekeeping operation with 10,000 troops has been monitoring the 2005 peace agreement. A separate UN-African Union peacekeeping mission with some 20,000 military and civilian personnel is in Sudan's Darfur region, trying to end the separate conflict there.
Le Roy said increasing the number of troops to build security to prevent a flare-up in the north-south conflict would not be enough.
"An increase in the number of troops would not enable UN Mission in Sudan to prevent, or even to contain, a clash between the two armies," Le Roy said.
In addition to the independence referendum, a second vote will allow Sudanese in the oil-rich border region of Abyei to chose whether to remain with Khartoum or Southern Sudan.