North Sudan army alleges forgery of south-leaked documents, says ready for “Jihad”

March 16, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The North Sudan army has strongly denied the authenticity of documents disclosed by South Sudan which allegedly prove the army’s involvement in supporting armed groups in the south ahead of the region’s independence in July, warning that its forces are ready for “Jihad” despite being keen on peace.

Tension has flared up over the past two weeks between north and south Sudan, which is set to become an independent state in July, due to the violence that erupted recently in some parts of the South as well as in the contested oil-producing area of Abyei.

Pagan Amum, the secretary-general of the dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in South Sudan, held a press conference in the region’s capital Juba on Monday and released documents purporting to be internal military communications within north Sudan’s armed forces.

The documents show orders being given for the supply of arms to militias affiliated with Lam Akol’s SPLM-DC, a breakaway faction from the SPLM, as well as to those affiliated with Gorge Athor, a former southern army general who staged a rebellion against the south’s government following his defeat in gubernatorial elections in Jonglei state in July last year.

According to Amum, the documents had been leaked from Sudan’s defense ministry, military high command, the logistical department and the national intelligence unit of the Khartoum-based government.

But North Sudan’s minister of defense Abdul Rahim Mohamed Hussain held a press conference on Wednesday in Khartoum and said that all documents presented by Amum were “forged” and containing “names, titles and ranks that do not exist in the armed forces’ system.”

The minister warned that the armed forces would not allow the south to use it as “a scapegoat” for its failure to enforce law and order in the region.

He further claimed that the person who fabricated the documents is “an ex-army sergeant” who sold the documents to the SPLM for “millions of pounds,” adding that the armed forces would take appropriate action against him at the right time.

Hussian said that the army was still keen on peace but he later warned that if the “clock of Jihad ticks, the armed forces would not hesitate to defend the country and safety of its soil and people.”

South Sudan suspended this weekend talks with north Sudan on issues related to post-secession arrangements, accusing the north of backing an attack last week by Athor’s forces on Malakal town in the Upper Nile State.

Similarly, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in north Sudan on Monday circulated a press release in which it dismissed as “lies and slanders” claims by the SPLM that the party instructed its provincial branches to supply it with mobile phone numbers of SPLM leaders in order to tab them.

The NCP’s press release said that the SPLM had no qualms about using any “sinister” methods to foment the conflict and “return to war,” adding that the party does not even have a “political affairs secretariat” as shown in the documents released by the SPLM.

North and South Sudan ended nearly half a century of intermittent civil wars when they signed, in 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which allowed the south to vote overwhelmingly for secession from the north in a referendum earlier this year.

Foreign powers including the United States and Britain on Tuesday urged the two sides to cease hostilities and resume post-secession talks which focus on a wide array of issues including sharing of oil resources, citizenship, foreign debts and the status of Abyei.

(ST)