S.Sudan says Heglig oilfield reduced "to rubble," Sudan denies

South Sudan accused Sudan of bombing a disputed major oil field "to rubble" on Sunday but Khartoum denied that and said it would not negotiate until Juba withdrew all its troops from the same area.
   
South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters in Juba the aerial bombardment of the facility - in the Heglig region - had caused serious damage.
   
Sudan's state minister for information denied the charge, however, telling Al Jazeera television that Sudan "did not and will not" destroy the oil facilities.
   
Fighting between the two neighbours has already halted production at the facility, depriving Sudan of about h alf of its 115,000-barrel-a-day oil output.
   
Both sides regularly make conflicting claims and limited access to the remote region makes it difficult to independently verify their statements.
   
But the seriousness of the allegations underscored how close the two former civil war foes are to the brink of a full-blown war as the worst fighting since Juba declared its independence in July continued apace.
 
On Sunday, South Sudan's military (SPLA) spokesman Philip Aguer said by phone that Sudanese aircraft were continuing efforts to dislodge southern forces from the area, subjecting them to an aerial bombardment.
   
Sudan's army had also shelled a western part of South Sudan's Upper Nile state, in an apparent attempt to open a new front, he said.
   
A spokesman for Sudan's armed forces did not immediately answer calls to his mobile phone for comment. The Sudanese army said it had entered the Heglig region on Saturday, but South Sudan denied that.
   
Worsening violence in recent weeks has all but killed hopes that the two countries will reach a swift agreement on disputed issues such as the demarcation of their 1,800-km (1,200-mile) border, the division of national debt and the status of citizens in each other's territory.
   
Sudan has already pulled out of talks over those and other issues. It says it will not return to the negotiating table  until the South pulls out of Heglig.
      
Few casualty figures have been released since fighting began, but South Sudan's Benjamin said on Sunday that 19 of his government's troops had been killed and 33 wounded since the outbreak of violence.
   
He also claimed that 240 Sudanese troops had been killed, numbers impossible to independently verify.
   
Egypt, which borders Sudan to the north, is mounting a diplomatic offensive to try to defuse the current tensions.
   
Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr arrived at Khartoum airport on Sunday for talks.
      
Global powers have widely condemned South Sudan's seizure of Heglig, urging the two sides to stop fighting and return to talks. South Sudan says Heglig, which many southerners refer to as Panthou, is its rightful territory, an assertion Khartoum hotly contests.
   
Reuters