Five South Sudanese troops freed by Sudan: witness - GlobalPost

Sudan's military on Monday handed over five South Sudanese prisoners to the Red Cross, a witness said, as tensions rise between the two states over a failure to implement security agreements.

The handover took place at the airport in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, said the witness. The five soldiers, seen boarding a Red Cross plane, wore civilian clothes and appeared to be in good health, he said.

Sudan's military announced last week that the prisoners would be released in a show of "good will."

They were caught in the Kafindebey area, army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said, quoted in a February 6 report by the official SUNA news agency.

It did not say when the men were captured but the area, on the undemarcated and disputed border, was reportedly the scene of fighting last May, among a series of boundary clashes between Sudan and South Sudan.

The presidents of the two nations in September signed security and economic pacts they hailed as ending conflict.

But those agreements have not been implemented and there have been allegations of new clashes and incursions along the frontier.

str-it/hkb

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130211/five-south-sudanese-troops-freed-sudan-witness

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Sudan's military on Monday handed over five South Sudanese prisoners to the Red Cross, a witness said, as tensions rise between the two states over a failure to implement security agreements.

The handover took place at the airport in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, said the witness. The five soldiers, seen boarding a Red Cross plane, wore civilian clothes and appeared to be in good health, he said.

Sudan's military announced last week that the prisoners would be released in a show of "good will."

They were caught in the Kafindebey area, army spokesman Sawarmi Khaled Saad said, quoted in a February 6 report by the official SUNA news agency.

It did not say when the men were captured but the area, on the undemarcated and disputed border, was reportedly the scene of fighting last May, among a series of boundary clashes between Sudan and South Sudan.

The presidents of the two nations in September signed security and economic pacts they hailed as ending conflict.

But those agreements have not been implemented and there have been allegations of new clashes and incursions along the frontier.

str-it/hkb

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130211/five-south-sudanese-troops-freed-sudan-witness