Sudan’s military conflict is getting closer to South Sudan and Abyei, UN envoy warns

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy for the Horn of Africa is warning that the conflict between Sudan’s army and rival paramilitary force now in its seventh month is getting closer to South Sudan and the disputed Abyei region. Hanna Serwaa Tetteh pointed to the paramilitary Rapid Support Force’s recent seizures of the airport and oil field in Belila. She told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that the conflict “is profoundly affecting bilateral relations between Sudan and South Sudan, with significant humanitarian, security, economic and political consequences that are a matter of deep conce.rn among the South Sudanese political leadership.” Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare.