Sudan's Bashir no negotiations with southern foe

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir vowed on Monday not to negotiate with South Sudan after it occupied the oil-producing Heglig region.
   
"We will not negotiate with the South's government, because they don't understand anything but the language of the gun and ammunition," he told Sudanese troops at a barracks near the oilfield along the contested border.
   
General Kamal Abdul Maarouf, a Sudanese army commander who led the battles in Heglig, said the army had killed 1,200 South Sudanese troops in fighting in the area, an account South Sudan denied.

Sudanese warplanes carried out air strikes on South Sudan on Monday, killing three people near a southern oil town, residents and military officials said, three days after South Sudan pulled out of a disputed oil field.
   
A Reuters reporters at the scene, outside the oil town of Bentiu, said he saw a fighter aircraft drop two bombs near a river bridge between Bentiu and the neighbouring town of Rubkona.
   
"I can see market stalls burning in Rubkona in the background and the body of a small child burning," he said.
    
Mac Paul, deputy head of South Sudan's military intelligence, said two Sudanese MiG-29 planes had dropped four bombs in the area. "This is a serious escalation and violation of the territory of South Sudan. It's a clear provocation," Paul said.

Reuters