South Sudan 'armed groups' attack disputed border area - Global Times

"Armed groups" from the Republic of South Sudan clashed with Arab tribesmen in Samaha, a flashpoint border region disputed by Khartoum and Juba, the Sudanese military said on Thursday.

The fighting occurred two days ago, army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad told AFP Thursday.

"We hear that there were some groups from South Sudan, armed groups, and they attacked the nomads there, the Rezeigat," he said. "The fighting was not between the Sudanese army and the South Sudanese army."

He said he had no information on casualties or what sparked the incident.

"We are trying to find a political solution for this problem," Saad said.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Wednesday evening "discussed means of implementing the agreements which were signed in Addis Ababa between Sudan and South Sudan as well as removing the impediments," the official SUNA news agency reported.

It added that Bashir affirmed his readiness to meet South Sudan's President Salva Kiir "in any time and place" to speed up the deals reached in the Ethiopian capital after African Union mediation.

AFP