South Sudan accuses Khartoum of launching border attacks

South Sudan accused their neighbor Sudan on Sunday of launching fresh attacks in the oil-producing areas straddling their border, dashing hopes for a new round of talks designed to end the dispute between the two countries.               

Clashes first broke out on Monday in the worst direct confrontation between the two since South Sudan became independent in July 2011 but died down two days later when South Sudanese troops moved out of the disputed Heglig area, inside Sudan.              

Speaking at a news conference in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, South Sudan's chief negotiator Pagan Amum told journalists that Sudan had carried out an attack in Panakwach, an area inside South Sudan.               

Sudan and South Sudan have sent negotiators to the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa for the first set of talks between the two countries since violence erupted.               

"This morning at eight (o'clock) the position of SPLA's fourth division, a station within South Sudan in Panakwach has been bombed and attacked by helicopter gunshots. The bombing is continuing as we speak," said Amum.               

The United Nations and the United States have both warned that the clashes could re-ignite a civil war that stretched for decades between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south.