Juba denies presence of Darfur’s JEM rebels in South Sudan
January 3, 2012 (JUBA) – On Tuesday 3 January the government of South Sudan denied reports that the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), one of the Darfur rebel groups fighting Khartoum, had crossed the international border into the newly independent country.
The government of Sudan has lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the African Union alleging the arrival of the Darfur rebel forces in the Republic of South Sudan. It has also Juba against supporting them.
Speaking in Juba, South Sudan’s minister of information Barnaba Marial Benjamin, dismissed reports that JEM had entered South Sudan and challenged the Sudanese government to clarify where the rebel groups were stationed.
North Sudan says that a JEM force of approximately 350 combatants and 79 armored vehicles managed to cross from Darfur into South Sudan on 28 December, and had settled in an area called Tumsaha.
JEM was involved in heavy fighting with Sudan’s government forces last month in the west of North Kordofan state, during which its leader Khalil Ibrahim was killed in an airstrike. Khartoum claims Ibrahim was trying to move his forces towards South Sudan when he was killed.
The north Sudanese government allege that the JEM forces crossed the poorly defined international border at the Al-Sarag and Sakara crossing point, south of Ed Daein.
JEM’s injured soldiers had been taken to Gog Mashar hospital in Tumsaha area, Khartoum said. They also alleged that the rebels have setup a training camp close to Raja area in western Bahr Al-Ghazal state.
The Sudanese government asked the UNSC to help it to put pressure on the South Sudanese government, to ensure that not only would they withhold any form of assistance to JEM forces, but they would also disarm them and extradite any among them who were wanted by the Sudanese government. Failure to do so would affect the future relationship between the two countries, Khartoum said.
This is the third time Sudan has complained to the UNSC about its southern neighbour since South Sudan seceded in July.
The two previous complaints accused South Sudan of supporting the rebel group Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), which is fighting the Sudanese government in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states which borders the South Sudan, as well as supporting Darfur rebel groups.
Juba, who have also accused Khartoum of supporting rebel groups in its territories, has denied the charges and asked Khartoum to seek a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
The SPLM-N and JEM along with two other rebel factions from Darfur forged an alliance in November 2011 and pledged to hold joint military operations in order to topple the government of Khartoum.
Last week the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that it had observed a military build up on both sides of the border.
(ST)