New Civil War Feared in Sudan As Town Empties

In the contested town of Abyei, fighting between government soldiers and southern forces destroyed homes, schools and businesses. Each side blames the other, but both agree it could lead to a resumption of a north-south war. (By Stephanie Mccrummen -- The Washington Post)
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Government forces shelled an Abyei police station, killing 14 officers, before southern forces began fighting back with machine guns and heavy weapons on the outskirts of town. Government officials say 21 of their soldiers were killed; southern forces have not provided figures.

A fragile cease-fire has held since last week, but the damage appears to be complete.

Abyei is empty but for the government soldiers with AK-47 assault rifles slung over their shoulders, who on a recent day were burning down houses and looting desks, chairs, mattresses, drugs, food and whatever else they could salvage from the ruins.

"They come with trucks, put things together in a heap and drive off," said a local commander with the U.N. mission in Sudan, which has about 150 peacekeepers in Abyei and a mandate to monitor, not intervene. "All of them are coming from the north. The only ones left are SAF," he said, referring to the Sudanese armed forces.

In recent days, government forces have begun digging trenches around town, planting machine guns in sandbagged holes. On Saturday, two battalions of soldiers arrived from the eastern Sudanese town of Gadarif, according to a source in the region.

The former southern rebels have pulled back to points south of town and are reinforcing their positions with heavy weapons, including tanks.

"This was a systematic campaign with the clear objective of displacing permanently the civilian population so the outcome of the referendum would be in the government's favor," said Dagne, who was in the region during the attack. "You depopulate, then you repopulate with Misseriya, and you've changed the equation on the ground."