Shooting on Monday night by northern Sudan soldiers was an attempt to start clashes in the oil-rich region of Abyei, southern former rebels say.

苏丹前南方造反派称，北方军队周一晚上的射击案是准备在富含石油的阿比郡制造冲突的尝试。

Joint¹ north-south units deployed² to Abyei in 2008 after deadly clashes" src="http://www.enread.com/upimg/allimg/101013/4_101013064428_1.jpg" width="304" height="171" />
Joint north-south units deployed to Abyei in 2008 after deadly clashes

SPLM spokesman Kuol Deim Kuol said four soldiers went into Abyei town's market and fired at random³（胡乱地，随便地） , wounding a trader.

He told the BBC it was a pretext⁴ to start trouble, as UN-mediated talks on Abyei's referendum（公民投票） ended in failure.

The people of Abyei are due to vote in January on whether the region should belong to north or south Sudan.

It is scheduled to take place on the same day as the south holds a referendum on whether to secede⁵（脱离，退出） from north Sudan.

Both referendums were part of a 2005 peace deal to end two decades of conflict between the north and south, in which some 1.5 million people died.

Units of northern soldiers and southern SPLA soldiers are stationed in Abyei, where there are still disputes over voter eligibility⁶（适任，合格） and the physical demarcation（划分，界限） of the state's border.

'Scapegoat⁷'

Lt-Gen Kuol said northern soldiers in barracks in Abyei town responded to the market gunfire by firing in the air from about 2100 until 0200 on Tuesday morning.

The SPLM spokesman said the shooting only stopped after the intervention⁸ of UN peacekeepers.

"They want to provoke（驱使，激怒） a fight - and there was no fight simply because the SPLA officers who are part of the joint integrated unit（联合装置） managed to control the SPLA soldiers and they did not fire," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

"They want to dishonour⁹ the peace agreement and they're looking for a scapegoat（替罪羊） . It's just a pretext to start a war," he said.

Correspondents say there is much suspicion in the south that President Omar al-Bashir and his colleagues in the north are doing all they can to stop the referendum because they stand to lose out on vast amounts of oil in Southern Sudan.

The week-long talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on organising Abyei's referendum ended without agreement as northern politicians refused to recognise last year's international court ruling in The Hague fixing the region's borders.

The other more serious point of disagreement has been about who should be able to vote on 9 January.

Abyei is home to both the Dinka ethnic¹⁰ group, seen as supporters of the south, and the nomadic¹¹ Arabic-speaking Misseriya people, seen as northerners.

The SPLM do not think the Misseriya, who spend several months of the year in Abyei and have grazing rights in the region, should have the right to vote.

The negotiators have agreed to reconvene（再召集） at the end of October.

At least 100 people died and 50,000 people fled their homes in heaving（起伏，举起） fighting in Abyei two years ago.