* South Sudan demands release of prisoners
* Fighting ebbs for first time in a week
* AU calls for deal within three months
(Adds Sudan measures to boost army spending)
By Yara Bayoumy and Sabrina Mao
JUBA/BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) – South Sudan freed
prisoners of war on Wednesday as clashes appeared to abate
between north and south, after cross-border fighting that
threatened to tip into all-out war.
Sitting on some of Africa’s most significant oil reserves,
Sudan and South Sudan have been unable to resolve a dispute over
oil revenues and border demarcation since the South gained
independence in July.
Nearly all oil production has now stopped and the border
fighting in contested oil-producing regions has grown more
intense, prompting China, which has economic interests in both
countries, and the African Union to push for a diplomatic deal.
“The SPLA (South Sudan’s army) handed over prisoners of war
to the ICRC. They were 14 who were captured during the battles
of Heglig from April 10-15,” Philip Aguer, spokesman for South
Sudan’s army, said in Juba.
Aguer was referring to the Heglig oilfield which the SPLA
captured earlier this month but later withdrew from, under
international pressure. Juba has since accused Sudan’s armed
forces of bombing its territory, a claim Khartoum denies.
South Sudan’s government and its army have said the deal was
brokered by Egypt during its foreign minister’s visit to both
countries about 10 days ago.
The prisoners are expected to arrive in the north on
Thursday morning, Sudan’s state news agency SUNA said.
Aguer said the men were mostly Sudanese from the north as
well as one South Sudanese who he said had been recruited as a
mercenary, adding the Sudanese army was holding at least seven
SPLA members as prisoner of war.
“We have requested that they be released if they have not
been killed,” he said.
The border area appeared calmer after Sudanese Foreign
Minister Ali Ahmed Karti said on Tuesday Khartoum was ready to
resume talks on security issues. A day earlier, President Omar
al-Bashir had ruled out negotiations.
Residents of Bentiu, about 80 km (50 miles) from the
contested border, said the area had come under attack on Monday
from Sudanese fighter jets.
“I do not want war to come back,” Nyachar Teny, an old
woman, said in a market damaged by the air strike in which at
least two people were killed.
“It seemed like everyone was finished with war.”
A Reuters correspondent in Bentiu said he did not hear any
air strikes on Wednesday, after days of bombardment in the area.
Sudan has denied carrying out any air strikes.
DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE BY CHINA AND AU
The United States, China and Britain have urged both sides
to return to the negotiating table and end the fighting along
the poorly marked 1,800-km (1,200-mile) border.
China has significant oil and business interests in both
African nations and is one of Sudan’s closest allies. Western
powers hope Beijing will overcome its reluctance to get involved
in the conflict and help resume talks.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir cut short a visit to
China meant to improve ties strained after Juba expelled the
head of a China-led oil consortium it accused of helping
Khartoum “steal” southern oil.
A government official in Juba and the Chinese foreign
ministry gave no reason why the Shanghai leg of Kiir’s visit had
been cancelled.
China said it would send its Africa enjoy to Khartoum and
Juba to help with talks. The enjoy, Zhong Jianhua, is expected
to work with the United States on the issue, China said.
“This is the second time he will go to Sudan and South Sudan
to promote talks,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said.
The African Union urged both sides to resume talks, which
have collapsed several times, and strike a deal within three
months or face a binding ruling.
Sudan’s finance minister Ali Mahmoud said all ministers had
donated one month’s salary to a fund to support the armed
forces, SUNA said. All other employees would have two days’ pay
deducted from their salary, while public institutions would have
to cut fuel expenditures by 50 percent.
Both north and south face severe economic crises with fuel
shortages and rising food prices, which will make it difficult
to fund an all-out war for a long time. Heglig used to supply
half of Sudan’s oil output.
(Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa and
Hereward Holland in Bentiu; writing by Yara Bayoumy and Ulf
Laessing; editing by Andrew Roche)
