Sudan leader raises stakes in peace deal row

Sudan's president has accused former civil war foes in the south of breaking the terms of a peace deal, warning worse conflict could erupt if the sides did not settle disputes before a vote on secession due in January.

The comments from Omar Hassan al-Bashir, reported on state media, raised the stakes in a war of words between Khartoum and the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement, five years after the sides ended decades of conflict.

The peace deal is supposed to climax with a referendum giving the people of the oil-producing south the right to decide whether to declare independence.

Mr Bashir "expressed his regret over the retreat of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement from its commitment which was stipulated in the (peace agreement]", the news report said.

The 2005 deal said northern and southern leaders must try to make unity "attractive" to southerners before the vote. Mr Bashir said he was still committed to a vote, but the sides first had to agree on a border and how to share out oil, debt and water.