Sudan’s parliament on Wednesday called a halt to negotiations with South Sudan, official radio reported, as the foreign ministry accused Juba of the worst violation of its territory since independence. “Parliament decided to stop negotiations and withdraw the delegation immediately from Addis Ababa,” Radio Omdurman reported after a second day of renewed clashes between the two nations in an oil-rich region along the disputed border. Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Rahma Mohammed Osman told reporters troops from the South had pushed 70 kilometres (43 miles) into Sudan and were in the Heglig oil region. “I think this is the most serious after South Sudan’s secession and it affects our main oil production area,” he said. “We are calling for the international community to put pressure on South Sudan to withdraw its troops from Heglig without any conditions,” Osman added. Khartoum says it has complained to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to the African Union, which has been leading negotiations between the two nations on security, economic and border issues. Sudan does not allow journalists to freely report from the border region, making independent verification difficult. Legislators announced a “mobilisation and alert” of the population, the radio report said, although President Omar al-Bashir had already issued a decree forming a high-level committee for mobilisation on March 26. That same day a series of border clashes began, sparking international fears of a return to all-out war.
