SSPDF soldiers on a pickup truck - Credit: File Photo: Courtesy

The SSPDF command has deployed an unknown number of troops to the border between the disputed region of Abyei and Twic County following last week’s deadly fighting, a government official from Abyei said.

On Monday, 12 people were killed, and a dozen others injured after clashes erupted in Aneet Town between the youth of Abyei and their counterparts from Twic County in Warrap State.

To prevent the further eruption of violence, Ajak Deng the Minister of Information said hundreds of South Sudan People’s Forces were dispatched to the border between the two conflicting communities.

“People have returned to (their houses) because the situation is now calm and the army has been brought from Juba so we are hoping will eventually be stable and there will be no further attacks,” Deng told Eye Radio on the weekend.

He said the troops will secure border areas and create a buffer zone between the two areas.

“They (troops) were deployed the very day the attack happened, that is on Monday so, I think the number (of soldiers) is increasing now because they are being airlifted here using small airplane so they are accumulating themselves at Majakol barrack and they will be moving out to the areas affected by recent attacks.”

The communal clashes were triggered by a border dispute in February this year.

The conflict between the two communities has continued to escalate despite their previous commitment to the cessation of hostilities agreement in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State capital, Aweil in April this year.

An investigative committee led by Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi brought the two communities of Ngok Dinka of Abyei – a disputed region between South Sudan and Sudan – and Twic in Warrap State to sign the broken ceasefire.