**Tension is high in Sudan as a court ruling in The Hague is awaited on its disputed internal border, which cuts through rich oil fields.**The main parties in north and south Sudan have pledged to abide by the court ruling but some fear a return to their long war, which ended in 2005.
Under the peace deal, the south is autonomous but the region’s borders are not clearly defined.
Both north and south claim the Abyei region and its oil.
At the weekend, the UN accused the southern Sudanese army, the SPLA, of moving troops into Abyei ahead of the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
This was strongly denied by the SPLA.
Both armies had agreed to stay out of the area.
Ghost town
A 22-year civil war - separate from the Darfur conflict - which pitted the mainly Muslim north against the Christian and animist south ended in 2005, after claiming 1.5 million lives.
The peace deal four years ago established a commission to decide on the boundaries of Abyei, which was supposed to be administered jointly until a referendum in 2011.
Could clashes herald return to war
Uneasy peace in Sudan ghost town](http://www.paklinks.com/2/low/africa/7818734.stm)
But the north rejected the commission’s decision, which determined that Abyei included oil fields and key grazing areas.
Analysts say the disputed area’s size and make-up matters because Abyei’s residents are likely to vote to join southern Sudan’s administration in the referendum.
At the same time, the south will vote on whether it wants to be independent.
After clashes broke out in Abyei town last year, the two sides agreed to refer the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
As many as 100 people died, and the incident was seen as the biggest threat to the peace deal.
Correspondents say Abyei town is a ghost of its former self with few prepared to rebuild it, fearing further clashes.
Only around 3,000 people are thought to live in and around Abyei compared to 50,000 before the fighting last year, Reuters news agency reports.