KHARTOUM: At least 36 people have died in clashes between tribespeople and Arab nomads near Sudan's north- south border, leaders in the contested Abyei region said Monday, on the second day of a vote on southern independence. Analysts say the central region of Abyei is the most likely place for north-south tensions to erupt into violence during and after the vote, the climax of a troubled peace deal that ended decades of civil war. Southerners are expected to vote to split from the mostly Muslim north, depriving Khartoum of most of its oil reserves. Senior southern Luka Biong official condemned the fighting and told Reuters both sides were still trying to settle their bitter dispute over the ownership of Abyei as part of a package of negotiations, including how the regions will share oil revenues and debt after a split. In a separate more positive development, former US president Jimmy Carter told CNN Monday Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir had offered to take on all of the country's crippling debt if the south seceded. The offer, if confirmed, would be a significant conciliatory gesture from Bashir and would lift a huge fiscal burden from the south in the early days of its expected independence. Leading members of Abyei's Dinka Ngok tribe, linked with the south, accused Khartoum of arming the area's Arab Misseriya militias in clashes Friday, Saturday and Sunday and said they were expecting more attacks in days to come. In another sign of tension, southern army spokesman Philip Aguer said two men – a Ugandan and a northern army soldier – were arrested with four boxes holding 700 rounds of AK-47 ammunition in the southern capital Juba Sunday night. The northern army's spokesman, Al-Sawarmi Khaled, Monday denied any link to the ammunition or the clashes. Observers said thousands of voters queued up for a second day of voting that continued peacefully across other areas of the south. The final results are expected by Feb. 15, with preliminary results a week earlier. The referendum's organizing commission said 20 percent of registered southerners had already cast their vote. The turnout needs to be 60 percent for the result to be valid. The speaker of the Abyei administration, Charles Abyei, said the Misseriya attacked because they had heard false rumors the Dinka were about to declare themselves part of the south.
