Border pact protested in South Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Demonstrators upset with an agreement they say gives their land to neighboring Sudan clashed with police Monday in South Sudan's capital of Juba.

Police fired live bullets to disperse protesters at the University of Juba but the number of casualties, if any, was not known because police did not allow media coverage, the Sudan Tribune reported.

Security forces did not attempt to disperse a crowd that surrounded Parliament, where South Sudan President Salva Kiir was expected to talk about the agreement.

The protesters, primarily from the provinces of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Abyei, were displeased with parts of a cooperation agreement between Sudan and South Sudan.

South Sudanese negotiators involved in reaching the agreement said there were compelling reasons why it included contested areas in the demilitarized zone 6 miles on either side of the border between the two countries.

Including an area known as Mile 14 in the buffer zone will not have any bearing on border demarcation, South Sudan chief negotiator Pagan Amum has said

Gabriel Changson Chang, the wildlife and tourism minister, criticized critics of the agreement.

"There was nothing the negotiating team did not do to protect the interest of our country," he said.

The deal angered Gen. Garang Mabil, a close friend and longtime military ally of Kiir.

"We will not accept this agreement by all means," he said. "It is very bad."

Dhieu Mathok Diing Wol, a senior government official, expressed "bitter displeasure" over the deal, calling it "completely wrong."