South Sudan clashes leave 47 dead: military

11/18/09 | AFP

JUBA - Forty-seven people were killed in ethnic clashes in south Sudan's Lakes state region, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.

Mundari ethnic gunmen launched an attack on two Dinka Aliab villages in the Bulok area of Awerial county on Monday, said Major General Kuol Deim Kuol, spokesman for southern Sudan Peoples? Liberation Army (SPLA).

"Ten people of the Dinka were killed and 16 were wounded," said Kuol to AFP.

"On the side of the Mundari, there were 37 killed and the others were chased away back to their lands."

"These people are neighbours who have a tradition of cattle raiding," added Kuol. "We believe this was a continuation of those cattle raids, but using the modern automatic weapons for the killing.

A UN official said several thatched huts had been burnt and some aid agency buildings destroyed.

The violence follows an attack on Sunday in which five were killed and a minister in the semi-autonomous south?s government was wounded in Central Equatoria state.

More than 2,000 people have died in the south and 250,000 been displaced by inter-ethnic clashes since January, according to the United Nations, which says the rate of violent deaths now surpasses that in the western region of Darfur.

Many fear the violence will disrupt ongoing voter registration for Sudan?s 2010 general elections, the first in 24 years and a key part of the 2005 peace deal that ended the country's two-decade-long civil war between north and south.

Registration has been slow, with the former rebel Sudan Peoples? Liberation Movement (SPLM) appealing for the 30-day period to be extended.

Many in the south appear more focused on a promised referendum on independence scheduled for January 2011.

The United Nations has warned that poor rains and food insecurity could spark further unrest, with tensions rising as cattle herders move their livestock into areas controlled by rival groups.