South Sudan to release Russian pilots captured in alleged rebels’ helicopter

October 5, 2010 (JUBA) – South Sudan on Tuesday announced it will release three Russian pilots it captured last August on board a helicopter alleged to have been carrying men loyal to George Athor, a renegade general leading a rebellion against the government of the semi-autonomous region.

The minister of internal affairs at the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS), Gier Chuang Aluong, told reporters yesterday in Juba that the GoSS had concluded investigations and decided to hand the Russian pilots over to their government.

The Russian pilots were detained on August 8 after their helicopter was impounded by south Sudan’s authorities as it landed in Fulug county airport in the Upper Nile State.

According to south Sudan, the helicopter was transporting men loyal to rebel leader George Athor.

George Athor is a renegade military general who instigated a rebellion against the GoSS after losing April’s gubernatorial elections in Jonglei State to Kuol Manyang Juuk, the candidate of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which controls the south.

Athor, who served and held senior positions within the SPLM’s army known as the SPLA, refused to concede defeat and claimed the vote was rigged.

South Sudan accused unspecified “quarters” in north Sudan of supporting George Athor and arranging the air transport of his men in order to undermine stability in the region as it approaches a critical vote in January 2011 on whether to remain united with north Sudan or gain full independence.

On August 11, SPLM’s Secretary-General Pagan Amum described the capture of the helicopter as “a serious development indicating that some quarters in Khartoum were supporting Athor in order to undermine security and stability in the south and obstruct the referendum.”

The civil war between North and South Sudan, which lasted for over two decades, ended in 2005 when the two sides signed a peace agreement known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The deal gave the south, whose population is mainly Christian or follow traditional beliefs, a chance to secede from the Arab-dominated, Muslim-ruled north in a referendum vote due in January 2011. Southerners are widely expected to vote for independence.

(ST)