A child holds up bullets collected from the ground in Rounyn, a village about 15 kilometres from Shangel Tubaya, North Darfur. Most of the village’s population has fled to camps for internally displaced because of heavy fighting between Government of Sudan and rebel forces. (UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran)
JUBA, Sudan, April 25 (UPI) -- A Sudanese militia leader escaped after forces in southern Sudan killed more than 50 of his rebel supporters, a military official said.
The Sudan People's Liberation Army said in a statement that militia leader Gabriel Tang "narrowly escaped" after a weekend skirmish in Kaldak in southern Sudan, CNN reports. The SPLA, the military branch of South Sudan's government, said 57 members of Tang's forces were killed and two high-ranking officials were captured in weekend fighting.
The SPLA didn't include a reason for Tang's attacks. Southern Sudan is experiencing rising levels of violence ahead of a July independence date.
The majority of voters who took part in a January referendum backed independence for South Sudan. The referendum was part of a comprehensive peace agreement reached in 2005 that ended a bloody civil war in Sudan.
Disputes like border demarcations and voting issues in disputed border territories threatens to unravel the peace agreement.
Atul Khare, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, told the U.N. Security Council last week that South Sudan's government needed to take "concrete measures" to avoid undermining peace in the region.
