South Sudan has put its army on high alert due to the ongoing conflict over oil transit charges with its northern neighbor, Sudan, local media reported.
The authorities of newly independent South Sudan said on Wednesday that Khartoum’s planes bombed refugee camps in Upper Nile State earlier this week. Upper Nile borders Blue Nile State in Sudan, where the Khartoum government is engaged in conflict with militants that support the Juba opposition.
“This aggression is a violation of international humanitarian law and threatens the lives of civilians and humanitarian workers. This is unacceptable,” Sudan Tribune reported on Wednesday, quoting French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.
South Sudan and Sudan have been unable to agree transit payments for South Sudan oil shipped on a pipeline through Sudan, leading authorities in Juba, the South Sudan capital, to suspend oil production until an alternative route is found. Production has been halted at more than 300 wells and reduced at 600 more.
South Sudan won independence in July 2011, but fighting still rages in disputed territory along the border with Sudan.
