KHARTOUM- Sudan's northern army has taken control of the disputed Abyei region and is clearing it of armed groups from the South, a minister from the northern government said on Sunday.
Control of oil-rich and fertile Abyei has been the main point of dispute between northern and southern Sudan ahead of plans for the South to become a separate state on July 9 following a January referendum on independence.
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"The Sudanese armed forces control Abyei and are cleansing it of illegal forces," Amin Hassan Omar, a minister of state for presidential affairs, told reporters in Khartoum.