South Sudan Accuses Khartoum of Sending Troops

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - South Sudan's leader accused the northern government on Tuesday of reinforcing troops in the disputed oil town of Abyei, raising tensions as U.N. Security Council envoys flew in to shore up a north-south peace deal.

Clashes in Abyei last month increased fears of a return to all out war between the northern government and the south, which signed a peace agreement in 2005 to end two decades of civil war. The Security Council envoys, who flew into the southern capital Juba on a tour of African hotspots, discussed Abyei with South Sudan's leader Salva Kiir and will also hold talks with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government in Khartoum.

At stake in Abyei is control of lucrative oilfields and a pipeline supplying about half Sudan's daily 500,000 barrel output. Three years after the peace accord, the sides have failed to agree on the borders or administration for the area. South Sudan's leader told reporters: "The troops are coming down from Khartoum to Abyei ... I have already called him (Bashir) to order his military leaders to pull out their forces from the Abyei area. We are not going to fight them."

Kiir, who is president of semi-autonomous south Sudan as well as first vice-president of the country as a whole, said there was no danger of a return to war "as long as there was a will for peace". Deng Arop, a senior official of the parliament in the south, told Reuters 38 trucks full of northern soldiers had arrived in el-Muglad, a town about 120 km (75 miles) north of Abyei, over the weekend.

"They are converging on Abyei, they expect a big fight," he said. "There are three battalions -- one brigade."

He estimated that would mean 2,100 soldiers and not less than 1,500, equipped with heavy weapons.

No on was immediately available for comment from Sudan's government or armed forces. But officials have denied southern accusations of troop buildups in the past.

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