ABYEI, A strategic town in the oil-rich border region between northern and southern Sudan, has been destroyed in the last two weeks by troops from the north, its population scattered in the surrounding area. This is an ominous development, probably heralding renewed fighting between the two parts of the vast country which straddles the Muslim Arab and Christian black parts of the African continent.
Sudan, a deeply conflicted political entity in its half century of independence, could now be set for another round of the civil war which killed two million people and displaced four million more until it was halted by a comprehensive peace agreement in 2005. The war pitched the two parts of the country against one another, complicated by arguments over land, water and other resources - especially oil - which were systematically monopolised by the north. The agreement provided for an independent international boundary commission, national elections in 2009 and a referendum on possible secession or deep federalisation of the south in 2011.
The commission decided to put Abyei in the south, directly affecting the likely outcome of the referendum and the resources an autonomous or newly independent state would be able to draw upon. As the deadlines for elections looms the northern forces based in the capital Khartoum decided to take matters into their own hands. The weak United Nations force overseeing the agreement has been powerless to stop this unilateral act of aggression, which arose after a long period of tension over whether the city should be so allocated.
The appalling casualties and consequences of the civil war have been obscured by the Darfur humanitarian tragedy in the western part of Sudan in the last three years, driven by many of the same forces. But the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people there cannot be seen in isolation from this primary conflict - and nor can the associated humanitarian crisis in neighbouring Chad, where Irish troops are now serving in the European Union's relief force to protect other displaced victims. A further complicating factor is growing competition between the United States and China for regional influence, aid and oil resources.
The ingredients for a wider conflict gradually drawing in neighbouring states are certainly there if this atrocity triggers renewed fighting between northern and southern forces. It is difficult to see how national or international engagement can prevent it now that this step has been taken.