State and rebel troops battle for southern oilfields

Calm had returned to the southern Unity state by the weekend after clashes between state troops and armed militias for control of its oilfields, according to media reports on Sunday. AFP quoted armed forces spokesman Lt-Gen Mohamed Osman Yassin as saying that local security issues were "squarely resolved" and the oilfield areas were now "fully secured". A rebel militia - ostensibly part of the pro-government South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF) - under the leadership of Tito Byel attacked oilfield areas in Unity state and took 23 Chinese oil workers captive late last week, the opposition Voice of Sudan radio reported. The attacks on oil installations and government troops by the SSDF splinter were due to a dispute over responsibility for the security of oil operations, according to Sudanese Vice-President Riak Machar, quoted by AFP on Saturday. The SPLM/A spokesman in Nairobi, Samson Kwaje, told IRIN on Monday the attacks were carried out by the Southern Sudan Independence Movement (SSIM) - a disillusioned faction of the SSDF - which has the moral, but not practical, support of his movement. He said the situation had not been "settled" on Saturday and that there was little chance it would be quickly quelled.