* Violence breaks ceasefire with renegade commander
* South Sudan minister killed in office a day earlier
* Instability follows southern vote for independence (Adds Athor comments)
By Jeremy Clarke
JUBA, Sudan, Feb 10 (Reuters) - At least 16 people died in clashes between a renegade militia and south Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s army, the military said on Thursday, raising fears for stability of the oil-producing south as it prepares to declare independence.
The fighting with forces loyal to George Athor in south Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s Jonglei state on Wednesday and Thursday broke a shaky ceasefire with the southern government and followed the killing of a south Sudan minister inside his office, underlining insecurity even in the region&${esc.hash}39;s capital Juba.
The violence, which ended a period of relative calm in the underdeveloped and divided territory, comes at a particularly sensitive time for the south.
On Monday, final results showed that around 99 percent of southerners voted to separate from the north of Sudan in a referendum held under a 2005 peace deal which ended decades of north-south civil war.
That conflict killed an estimated 2 million people and was also marked by violence between rival southern militias. There have been fears that old divisions could re-surface during the build-up to secession, which is due to take place on July 9.
"George Athor&${esc.hash}39;s forces attacked an SPLA (the southern Sudan People&${esc.hash}39;s Liberation Army) base in Jonglei state. Four SPLA soldiers were killed and 12 of Athor&${esc.hash}39;s men," said SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer. "This is a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Not only has he attacked SPLA, he has been planting landmines as well."
Aguer said Athor&${esc.hash}39;s men launched the attack in the Jonglei community of Door on Wednesday morning.
CHEATING ALLEGATIONS
Athor&${esc.hash}39;s militia also staged two assaults near the settlement of Fangak on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, and two vehicles carrying SPLA soldiers hit a landmine on Wednesday, Aguer added. He could give no casualty figures.
Athor, who was a senior officer in the southern army, rebelled after saying he was cheated out of the governorship of Jonglei state in April 2010 elections.
Athor blamed the SPLA for attacking his forces first, but said that he was open to talks.
"If the other side is willing, we can continue talks but if they are not wiling then I would say this is the end of the peace agreement between us and them," he told Reuters via satellite phone from his jungle hideaway.
Athor agreed the ceasefire with the southern army in January, just before voting started in the referendum.
Southern leaders accused Khartoum of backing Athor when he first rebelled but did not repeat the accusations on Thursday. "We call on George Athor to look at this great moment in our history and make a logical decision for peace," said Aguer.
Adding to unrest in the south, southern soldiers in a northern army unit in neighbouring Upper Nile state mutinied last week after refusing to redeploy north as part of a separation of forces before the south&${esc.hash}39;s independence.
The southern army said on Thursday that the death count from those clashes had climbed to 60.
Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s north-south war was fuelled by differences over ethnicity, ideology, religion and oil, and left the south flooded with guns and other munitions. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Andrew Heavens/David Stamp)
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