101 killed in Abyei conflict: ex-administrator

JUBA: Around 100 people were killed when northern Sudanese troops overran the contested Abyei area last month, the former administrator of the flashpoint border district said on Thursday.

"We are fearing that the number of those who died is around 100," Deng Arop Kuol told AFP, adding that the toll was a "preliminary estimate."

"The situation there is very bad, and our people are suffering," he said.

Kuol, a southern appointee, was controversially sacked as Abyei's administrator by President Omar al-Bashir after Khartoum's troops and tanks occupied the disputed region on May 21, in what the south's government branded an "invasion."

Khartoum has since appointed Brigadier Izzedine Osman, who led the army's seizure of Abyei town, as the region's caretaker administrator.

The UN Mission in Sudan said they could not confirm the numbers killed.

"Our patrols following the fighting saw dead bodies," UNMIS spokeswoman Hua Jiang told AFP.

"At present, however, we cannot confirm a final casualty toll."

The United Nations says at least 60,000 people from the Abyei region have fled the violence, while the south claims many more have been displaced. (AFP)