Well, that didn’t take long. South Sudan declared its independence when an overwhelming majority of its citizens voted for Salva Kiir to be the president of their new nation last January. Last July, Kiir was inaugurated.

Now, Muslim Sudan is declaring South Sudan (Christian) an enemy.

Via the Sudan Tribune:

The Sudanese national assembly on Monday adopted a resolution designating the country’s southern neighbour as an enemy state in the latest sign of escalation between the two sides.

“We consider the government of South Sudan an enemy and Sudanese state institutions must treat it as such,” according to the text read by Kamal Obeid who chairs the defense and security committee in parliament.

The legislative body’s speaker Ahmed Ibrahim al-Taher also announced that his country wants the ruling party in South Sudan toppled by any means necessary.

“We declare that we will confront the [Sudan People Liberation Movement] SPLM until we end its rule of the South, and will work to gather our resources to realize this aim,” al-Taher said.

It looks like Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is on the hotseat, put there by the national assembly:

It remains unclear what implications the decision will carry as the power to declare war lies with the president according to the constitution. Only then can the parliament endorse it according to the 2005 constitution.

The two countries are now engaged in what some observers now classify as a full blown war since last Tuesday when South Sudan’s army occupied the oil-rich region of Heglig in South Kordofan State.

The surprise occupation reignited claims made by South Sudanese officials that Heglig is part of their country and specifically Unity State.

The oilfield is vital to Sudan’s economy, producing about half of the 115,000 barrel-per-day output that remained in its control after South Sudan’s secession.

Juba’s move drew wide international condemnation but has yet to convince Juba to initiate a withdrawal. South Sudan laid out a set of conditions for that including stopping aerial bombardments, withdrawing Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) from Abyei and Khartoum pledging not to use Heglig as a base to attack South Sudan.

Al-Bashir is the Muslim Brotherhood’s guy and if he faces increased pressure from such forces, he could take Sudan to war against the south whether he wants to or not.

The Khartoum home of South Sudan’s president was raided and pillaged this past weekend by Al-Bashir’s forces.

South Sudan’s president and vice president are both Christians.

Keep an eye on the Sudan.