Sudan renews accusations over Juba’s support to rebel groups
April 2, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s presidential assistant, Ibrahim Ghandour, has renewed accusations against the South Sudanese government that it is providing support to Sudanese rebel groups.
Ghandour on Thursday said that “the government of South Sudan continues to provide military and logistical support to the armed groups” that fight the Sudanese government, without further details about which group.
He further denied accusations by South Sudanese officials that Khartoum supports the rebel SPLM-In Opposition led by Riek Machar and described it as “repeated” statements and pointed out that “the whole world knows that the opposite is true”.
Also, he challenged the South Sudanese officials asking them to produce any evidence they have supporting these allegations.
“Whoever has an evidence, (proving this accusation) should provide it. But it is crystal clear that it is just like that proverb ‘he beat me and cried, and then rushed to complain,” Ghandour said.
Since the eruption of the South Sudanese conflict in December 2013 officials in Juba accused Khartoum of backing the SPLM in Opposition rebels.
In the past, the two countries agreed to establish a buffer zone and form joint patrols supported by UN peacekeepers in Abyei, but they failed to define the demilitarised zone.
PREPARATORY MEETING
The presidential assistant also sought to justify the rejection of his government to attend the national dialogue preparatory meeting last week, saying such encounter should not discuss issues to be discussed at the dialogue conference .
The African Union High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) issued on Wednesday a story statement criticising the refusal of the Sudanese government to participate in the pre-dialogue meting and suspended the process.
Ghandour said the AUHIP invited some people they do not know and do not know what they represent. He also said the invitation came in a short time while the dialogue mechanism is busy with the upcoming elections.
“I do not expect a sane person from (political) parties competing in the election to participate in a conference outside Sudan,” he said adding that “the first of its demands was presented by [SPLM-N secretary general] Yasser Arman, in his well-known letter and the (opposition) National Consensus Forces which is the cancellation or postponement of the elections,” he said.
(ST)