U.N. Says Staffer Killed in Disputed Abyei Region
A local staff member with the U.N.'s peacekeeping force in the Abyei region contested by Sudan and South Sudan has been killed in an incident that followed a tribal dispute, a U.N. official told Agence France Presse on Wednesday.
The employee, a member of the Dinka tribe, "was shot and killed" on Tuesday, Damian Rance, a public information officer with the U.N.'s humanitarian agency in Khartoum, told AFP.
He said he had no further details on the shooting itself but it came the day after tribal tensions rose in the area.
"From what I understand, Misseriya tribal chiefs went to a meeting in Abyei town to meet with the head of UNISFA," the U.N.'s Interim Security Force for Abyei, Rance said.
This caused tensions with members of the Dinka tribe.
"UNISFA put up security and the crowd dispersed," Rance said.
Details of what happened the following day, when the staffer died, remain unclear.
The African Union had set a December 5 deadline for Sudan and South Sudan to resolve the final status of Abyei.
Source: Agence France Presse
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