Sudan's president gave northern troops a "green light" to attack southern forces if provoked, while gunmen from an Arab tribe fired on four UN helicopters taking off from a disputed border town at the heart of a new north-south conflict, officials said Wednesday.
Both Sudan's north and south claim Abyei, a fertile region about the size of Connecticut that is located near several oil fields. Northern tanks and soldiers rolled into the disputed region Saturday following the attack on a northern army convoy Thursday, raising fears the dispute could trigger a return to civil war in Africa's largest nation. President Omar al-Bashir said his troops do not need permission from Khartoum to attack southern forces if they feel provoked, the state news agency SUNA said.