The Atlantic: “Tensions are rising in the Sudan… due to a military build-up in the disputed and resource-rich region of Abyei.”

PBS: “The disputed oil-rich town of Abyei was due to vote in January on whether to stay with the north or join the south, but the vote was delayed indefinitely. Tensions in the region have sparked sporadic fighting.”

UPI: “Clashes between rival groups in Abyei have left more than 100 people dead and displaced at least 20,000 people, the United Nations said.”

AFP: “US President Barack Obama on Friday expressed “serious concerns” over the situation in the Sudanese region of Abyei and violence against civilians in Darfur, as he met his new Sudan envoy.”

Reuters: “Newly appointed U.S. special envoy Princeton Lyman will depart on Saturday to… work on outstanding issues such as border demarcation, citizenship and division of oil revenue, as well as agreement on the disputed border region of Abyei.

The Atlantic: “In the 1980s, when economists began to discuss a potential “resource curse” afflicting the economic and political development of countries with significant natural resources, it seemed improbable that a country might actually come to regret its resource wealth. But history now suggests otherwise. “Oil is devils’ excrement and will bring us nothing but ruin,” warned Venezuelan oil minister and co-founder of OPEC, Perez Alfonso: now Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world, and also a poverty rate of nearly 40%.”

Activist Mia Farrow visits Abyei, the disputed region between north and South Sudan on the brink of war. Recorded just a few months before South Sudan’s independence, what was feared then is now coming to pass.