SPLM-N denies getting support from South Sudan and members arrested

By Ngor Arol Garang

September 9, 2011 (JUBA) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N) secretary general Yasir Arman, categorically denied accusations by the Sudanese government that they are receiving support from the Government of South Sudan (GoSS).

The SPLM-N is an offshoot of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), which rules the newly independent state of South Sudan.

The movement is currently fighting Khartoum’s forces in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. The South Kordofan conflict began in early June while the one in Blue Nile broke out last week. The two sides traded blame on who fires the first shots.

Tensions have mounted in the two states and other territories along Sudan’s poorly-defined border with South Sudan since the south declared independence in July.

The territories are all still home to tens of thousands of people from ethnic groups that sided with the south during decades of civil war that led up to independence.

“The NCP [National Congress Party] propaganda that the Government of the Republic of South Sudan is behind what is going on in the two areas does not hold water. The NCP themselves were fighting in the two areas and have had problems in these areas for the last 22 years of their rule. In contrast, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan is just two months old. The NCP is clearly looking for a scapegoat to hang their defeats”, reads the statement signed by Arman.

Arman explained that Khartoum fought the people of Eastern Sudan, Darfur and the South Sudan long before the Republic of South Sudan was born and accused Sudan’s ruling party of creating the ongoing conflicts in the two states.

“The current conflict is a creation of the NCP in that they sowed the seed of the
problem when they voluntarily destroyed the CPA; attempted to disarm the SPLA/N and rejected the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement. The SPLM/N and other resistance movements and democratic forces are determined to put an end the illusive NCP program of the second Islamic Republic, a Taliban Republic that is based on heavy human cost and loss, denial of diversity, ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism”, he adds.

He described the government’s plan to crush the SPLM-N as “wishful thinking” and an “impossible mission”. He claimed to have defeated government forces on Wednesday destroying a convoy on the outskirts of Damazin and capturing Khor Dahab, which the SAF forces used as a base for assembling and mobilizing forces to attack Gissan town which is one of the SPLM-N strongholds.

Arman said SAF launched attacks from the Eastern Part of Blue Nile in the two areas of Gissan-Menza, but they were repelled, resulting in the fall of Khor Dahab garrison.

He slammed the NCP for carrying out “arbitrary arrests” of it members across the country and the “closure of its offices and confiscation of vehicles and properties“, including West and South Darfur and offices and ones in Kassala.

The SPLM-N SG said the NCP’s security agencies have made 38 SPLM-N related arrests, including the following:

– Mohammed Mahmoud Al Awad, the SPLM-N political secretary for the
Northern state in the city of Dongolla
– Hashim Musa, the finance secretary
– Shams Eldin from the finance secretariat
– Ibrahim Gasim, Mirghani Tiya and Maker Deng Kur, former SPLM-N members
from South Sudan
– Ustaz Arbab Mohamed Ibrahim, the SPLM-N candidate for the position of
governor of Western Darfur
– Saad Sandell, former State Legislative Assembly member
– Abu Baker Yousif Zakaria, secretary of the SPLM-N for administration and
organization
– Daoud Arbab, secretary of finance
– Samer Yousif, secretary of women affairs
– Abu baker Haroun, chairperson of Eldain district, whose whereabouts remain
unknown
– Khalid Abdel Qawi, secretary general of the SPLM/N, his aged mother, wife
and sister were also reportedly interrogated
– Nazar Bushara, well known SPLM/N activist

The SPLM-N leadership said they have resolved to install former deposed Blue Nile governor Malik Agar as commander-in-chief of the movement while General Abdel Aziz Adam El Hilu, who is fighting in South Kordofan, as chief of staff.

Yesterday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that “UN agencies and international humanitarian partners… have requested permission from the government to travel to Sennar [the neighbouring state] and to secure parts of northern Blue Nile state to assess the situation and assist in addressing humanitarian needs”.

“But they have so far been denied access to do so,” it said, adding that, as in nearby South Kordofan, where a similar three-month-old conflict is still raging, the government has insisted that aid be provided through national partners such as the Sudanese Red Crescent.

The UN estimates that 60,000 people have been displaced by the conflict in South Kordofan and the Sudan Red Crescent Society estimates 35,000 in Blue Nile.

(ST)