Rebellion by former pro-Khartoum fighters in the Upper Nile state of south Sudan against giving up their heavy weapons has sparked two days of clashes, leaving 20 people dead and at least 24 injured.
The fighting around Malakal airport, close to the border with the north, began on Thursday when loyalists of Gabriel Tang, who commanded a pro-Khartoum force during the 1983 to 2005 civil war, objected to surrendering their heavy weaponry.
The dead included two children and a Sudanese driver for the UN's refugee agency, officials said.
The Tang loyalists are deployed alongside regular Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF - the northern army) in so-called Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) with former Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) forces that patrol the town under the peace agreement that ended the civil war.
In reality the units are far from integrated and the component elements effectively operate as separate forces.
The northern troops are shifting their equipment back home as the south gears up for its expected international recognition as an independent state in July following its overwhelming vote for secession in last month's landmark referendum.
The military warned there was a risk of more clashes as the country divided its forces before the south became independent.
