KHARTOUM, Sudan, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Sudan will not let more U.N. peacekeepers move into the North-South border zone without its approval, a top official said Saturday.
On Friday, U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy said the force would increase its presence at "hotspots" along the border of the southern autonomous zone, which is to vote on independence in a January referendum, the BBC reported.
U.N. officials said South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, fearing war preparations by the North, had requested the reinforcements.
But Salah Gosh, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's security adviser, said troops cannot be deployed without the consent of the Khartoum government.
The BBC reports rising tension and fears of a new war as the referendum nears.
There is also debate on who will be eligible to vote in a second referendum, in which the oil-producing region of Abyei will decide whether to join the North or the South.
The North-South civil war, ended by a pact in 2005, lasted 20 years and claimed 2 million lives.
