Withdral!!!!

South Sudan withdraws troops from oilfield Posted April 20, 2012 23:42:46 South Sudan's president Salva Kiir has ordered the withdrawal of his troops from the Heglig oil field across the border in Sudan. South Sudanese forces captured the oil field last week, prompting its northern neighbour to vow to recapture the area by "all means". The oilfield is vital to Sudan's economy, producing about half of the 115,000 barrel-per-day output that remained in its control after South Sudan's secession. The South accuses Sudan of using the region as a base to launch attacks - a claim Sudan denies. Observers say South Sudan's withdrawal from the oil field was ordered to create an environment for talks with Khartoum. However, reports from border areas suggest heavy fighting is still ongoing as Khartoum's troops try to drive out the withdrawing Southern troops. The fighting and rhetoric between the two sides over the past week led to fears of all-out war. International powers have called on Juba to pull back its forces, but it had resisted those calls, insisting it would do so only after Khartoum withdrew its troops from the neighbouring contested Abyei region. On Thursday, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the South's taking of Heglig as an "illegal act," but Juba still maintained Friday that Heglig - which it calls Panthou in the local Dinka language - was its territory. The fighting is the worst since South Sudan gained independence last July. The South's independence followed a 2005 peace deal which ended a two-decade civil war in which more than 1.5-million people died.