South Sudan said it’s withdrawing its forces from the disputed border region of Heglig and called on neighboring Sudan to halt aerial bombardments and ground incursions into the newly independent country. “An orderly withdrawal will commence immediately and shall be completed within three days,� government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters today in Juba, the capital. The decision to pull out is “without prejudice to our stand� that Heglig is part of South Sudan, he said. Fighting between the two countries intensified on April 10 when southern forces occupied the oil-rich Heglig region. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday called the move an “illegal act.� While both nations claim Heglig, Sudan has administered its oil fields since the south seceded in July, assuming control of about three-quarters of the formerly united country’s production of 490,000 barrels a day. After southern forces occupied the area, oil production of 40,000 barrels a day has been shut down, out of Sudan’s total output of 115,000 barrels a day, the Sudanese ambassador to Kenya, Kamal Ismail Saeed, said in Nairobi yesterday. South Sudan’s military spokesman, Philip Aguer, said Sudanese forces yesterday bombed the central processing facility in Heglig. “That facility has been burning through the night,� he told reporters today in Juba. Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir told a rally yesterday that his army would retake Heglig in what he said would be “the decisive battle.� The U.K. government urged the two countries to resume negotiations. “We hope the withdrawal will be orderly and that both sides will refrain from further military action,� Alastair McPhail, the U.K. ambassador to South Sudan, told reporters today in Juba. To contact the reporter on this story: Jared Ferrie in Juba, South Sudan via Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net.

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