WRAPUP 1-South Sudan says Sudan air strikes amount to war - Chicago Tribune

Reuters 12:39 p.m. CDT, April 24, 2012

* Juba accuses Khartoum of more aerial bombardments

* Khartoum says not willing to negotiate with foe

* Beijing calls for restraint

By Yara Bayoumy and Michael Martina

JUBA/BEIJING, April 24 (Reuters) - South Sudan accused Sudan
on Tuesday of mounting bombing raids on the newly independent
country's oil-producing border region and President Salva Kiir
said the latest hostilities amounted to a declaration of a war
by his northern neighbour.

Weeks of cross-border fighting between the former civil war
foes have threatened to escalate into a full blown conflict in a
region that sits on one of the most significant oil reserves in
Africa.

Although both Sudan, ruled by President Omar al-Bashir since
1989, and South Sudan, which became independent last July under
a peace deal with Khartoum, can ill-afford a protracted war,
both countries have fuelled tensions with bellicose rhetoric.

Philip Aguer, spokesman for South Sudan's army, or the SPLA,
said Sudanese Antonov aircraft had flown up to 40 km (25 miles)