KHARTOUM, Sudan, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A mutiny within joint north and south Sudanese forces on the regional border has claimed up to 50 lives, a general said Monday.
Followers of Gabriel Tang, a southern Sudanese militia leader who sided with the north in the civil war, refused to surrender their weapons in Malakal Thursday and fighting broke out, Maj. Gen. Ahmad al-No of the Joint Defense Council told CNN.
The council oversees the "joint integrated units" of the northern Sudanese Armed Forces and the southern Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army along the north-south border, which will become an international frontier when south Sudan secedes. Tang's forces had been merged into the units along with the SAF.
"The redeployment of joint integrated units was scheduled to take place starting Feb. 1," al-No said. "Tang fled SAF nearly a month ago and is somewhere around Malakal."
With Tang now fighting both the Sudanese army and the southern separatists, al-No said, "I am concerned that he may have an effect on the security in the region."
