'No return to war' over Abyei

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir called on north Sudan yesterday to withdraw its forces from the disputed Abyei region but said there would be no war over the incursion and it would not derail independence.
North Sudanese armed forces seized control of the oil-producing Abyei region on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands to flee and sparking an international outcry seven weeks before south Sudan secedes to form a new nation.
"We will not go back to war, it will not happen," Kiir told reporters in Juba, the capital of south Sudan which is due to become independent on July 9.
Abyei was a key battleground in Sudan's last north/south civil war and both sides see it as a symbolic emblem. The region is used all year round by the Dinka Ngok people, who have strong ethnic links to the south, and for part of the year by northern Misseriya nomads.
Southerners voted for secession in a January referendum, a vote that was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended the last conflict.

Analysts fear a north Sudanese land grab could spark a return to full-blown conflict, a development that would have a devastating impact on the region by sending refugees back across borders and creating a failed state in the south at birth.
Khartoum has defied U.S. and U.N. calls, saying it will not withdraw from land it says belongs to the north. A monitoring group that uses satellite images said it had spotted more north Sudanese armor in positions that could be deployed to the area.
Southern Information Minister Barnaba Benjamin said the north was moving "thousands" of Misseriya tribesmen, who are supported by Khartoum, into Ngok villages.
In north Sudan, 200 mostly student demonstrators held a rally at the defense ministry in the capital Khartoum to support the northern army. "One army, one people," they chanted.