Devastation in oil-rich Sudanese town

updated 8:08 p.m. ET May 24, 2008

ABYEI, Sudan - Smoke still rises from charred huts and the only people left behind in this town of 30,000 in the oil-rich region are the looters and the army. The worst fighting in years between Sudanese government forces and former southern rebels has laid waste to Abyei.

The fighting, which broke out two weeks ago, threatened a 2005 peace treaty that ended a two-decade civil war between north and south in which 2 million people died. That agreement created a unity government between north and south, and left Southern Sudan a semi-autonomous region with its own government and military forces.

Abyei lies just north of the disputed boundary line with Southern Sudan in a volatile region that remains contested despite the peace agreement. It is coveted by both north and south because of its oil resources and green fields used for grazing cattle.

The fighting in Abyei flared at the same time the U.N. was warning of a dangerous escalation of violence on another Sudanese front — the Darfur conflict. Earlier this month, a Darfur rebel group staged an attack just outside the capital Khartoum for the first time since that conflict in western Sudan began in 2003.

Journalists who visited Abyei Friday with the U.N. under heavy security saw a ghost town where devastation was almost total.

The town's dirt roads were strewn with plastic chairs, beds, and clothes, apparently dropped by frenzied looters. Fires still raged in some huts.

Looters, who roamed the streets freely, and Sudanese government soldiers appeared to be the only people left in the town.

Villages on the move
U.N. officials estimate the 30,000 residents and 20,000 from neighboring villages fled at the height of the fighting which erupted over a personal argument between government soldiers and the former southern rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, according to witnesses.

Sarah El Deeb / AP Burned homes in Abyei, Sudan. Many residents who had only recently returned home after a peace deal have fled again.

The U.N. says another 40,000 in neighboring villages may also be on the move, fearing the spread of hostilities.

Jehangir Qazi, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sudan, said the violence that flared in Abyei could easily spread and threaten the entire peace accord. He spoke after visiting the embattled town.

"It just doesn't exist anymore," he said of Abyei. "It is absolute devastation. It is totally charred."

Since the peace deal, many ethnic Africans who fled Abyei during the civil war have returned. Now, they are fleeing again.

"I was running with fire behind me. I lost my children on the way." said Awal Dau, a 44-year-old Abyei resident who fled to Agok, a village about 25 kilometers south.

'Killing everywhere'
Nyakum Bakonly Chan, a frail 50-year old woman, said she never left Abyei at the height of civil war. But last week, she hid under her bed for two days while fighting raged, until her son carried her out on his shoulders and they fled.

"Back then, there were no heavy machine guns. Now, it was fire everywhere. It was killing everywhere," she said from Agok.

The fighting ended when the southern rebels were pushed back by the Sudanese forces, who remain in the town center.

There have been no meeting by leaders of the two sides to work things out.

The north-south civil war pitted the mostly Christian southerners against the Arab-dominated government to the north. The southerners accused the north of neglect, discrimination and unfair allocation of resources. Despite three years of peace, many old grievances and mistrust still persist.

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