Sudan army commits serious ceasefire violation-UN

KHARTOUM, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Sudan's army has committed the first serious violation of a final ceasefire signed a year ago to end Africa's longest civil war in its south, a U.N. peacekeeping official said on Wednesday.

The former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) said the army sent around 1,200 troops last week into the rebel-controlled eastern area of Hamesh Koreb and has threatened to expel the SPLM. A joint U.N.-led team is still in the area to defuse tensions between the two sides.

"This is the first serious ceasefire violation," said Parminder Pannu, the military chief of staff of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan, adding the Sudanese army was responsible.

The United Nations later clarified another, higher-level investigation within the U.N. mission was ongoing into the Hamesh Koreb attack.

The Jan 9, 2005 peace deal established a final ceasefire, and outlined a new coalition power-sharing government. Some 10,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops are being deployed throughout the country to monitor implementation of the deal.

During the more than two decades of north-south civil war, the SPLM reached and fought alongside separate eastern rebels in the region of Hamesh Koreb, which border Eritrea. U.N. troops are deployed in the nearest major town, Kassala.

Under the accord, the SPLM should have withdrawn its troops from the east within a year, but failed to do so.

While the SPLM says it informed the government and the U.N. about the delay they say is due to logistical problems, Pannu said they did not specify another withdrawal date despite many requests to do so.

He said the situation in Hamesh Koreb town was still very tense as government forces, SPLM troops and eastern rebels had formed a triangle of positions around the town.

"At the moment the situation is very tense but there is no exchange of fire taking place," he told reporters in Khartoum. "Any movement of forces without discussing this across the table...would amount to a ceasefire violation," he added.

Pannu said the government had insisted the troops were not Sudanese army, but a pro-government militia, known as Popular Defence Forces (PDF). But he said there were clear indications on the ground that the PDF forces were with the government.

The devastating toll of 23 years of the southern civil war on the Sudanese army has prompted Sudan to arm local tribes as militia to help fight rebellions in the east and western Darfur regions, which are not covered by the southern peace deal.

The Darfuri militia, known as "Janjaweed," stand accused of a widespread campaign of rape, killing and looting in the vast region since a revolt began almost three years ago. Sudan admits arming some militias in Darfur but denies any links to the Janjaweed.