SPLA shoots down Khartoum jet fighter over Heglig: officials

April 17, 2012 (JUBA) – A Sudanese MiG 29 jet fighter was shot down over the disputed oil region of Heglig on Monday evening by the South Sudanese army (SPLA) who have held the area for almost a week, according to officials.

Sources from both the South Sudanese military and Unity State officials told Sudan Tribune late on Monday that SPLA forces were moving to where the plane fell.

A Sudan Tribune reporter based in Bentiu, the Unity State capital, said journalists were planning to get to the site to verify the incident.

The SPLA says it maintains full control of Heglig and has pushed the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) 40km away from the area. However, Khartoum has claims it has regained part of the oil-producing area, which is vital to Sudan’s struggling economy.

Since occupying the area last week the SPLA has stopped Heglig’s oil pumps denying Khartoum half of its oil production.

The southern military says that Khartoum’s fighter planes have been carrying out bombardments in the Heglig area and beyond in Unity State, which borders Sudan.

Khartoum has repeatedly denied bombing South Sudanese territory, although a UN report covering the period of 6-13 April said: “Bombardments by Sudanese forces continued throughout the week, targeting locations in Unity State – including Abiemnom, Pariang and Bentiu town – and Warrap State’s Twic County. Four civilians and a soldier were reportedly killed in a 14 April air raid on Bentiu town”.

The Sudanese government has said that any damage to the facilities at Heglig must have been caused by the SPLA and not by their own forces.

Pagan Amum, South Sudan’s chief negotiator at the talks between the two nations that had been taking place in Addis Ababa until the latest fighting erupted, claimed on 4 April that the SPLA had shot down a Sudanese fighter jet sent to bomb the oil-rich Pan Akuac region in Unity State.

At the time Sudanese military spokesman Al Sawarmi Khaled Sa’ad denied the allegation.

(ST)