Bashir tells his cabinet to prepare for the “worst” with South Sudan

February 5, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir told members of his cabinet this week that they should expect the “worst” in the ongoing dispute with South Sudan, according to a newspaper report.

The privately-owned al-Akhbar newspaper, which has close ties to the presidency, said in its Sunday edition that Bashir made the remarks during the cabinet meeting which took place on Thursday afternoon.

The Sudanese leader was briefing his ministers about the talks he held in Addis Ababa last weekend with South Sudan President Salva Kiir in a meeting arranged by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and attended by Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki.

Zenawi along with the chairman of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki tried to press Kiir and Bashir to sign an interim agreement that would reverse unilateral steps taken by Khartoum and Juba with regards to oil.

The landlocked nation of South Sudan halted export of much of its oil through the north’s pipeline to Port Sudan in a dramatic escalation of a dispute over the payment of transit fees. Juba claims Khartoum confiscated US$815 million worth of its oil.

Sudanese officials justified their move by saying that the negotiations on oil transit fees have yielded no results and that they can longer wait given their economic crisis resulting from the secession of the south.

The al-Akhbar newspaper said that Bashir ended the meeting in an angry tone by saying “expect the worst with the south” before leaving. The brief statement took the ministers by surprise according to sources that were present at the meeting.

On Friday, Bashir told the Blue Nile TV in an interview that war with South Sudan is a possibility though he stressed that they will not be the ones to start it.

“The climate now is closer to a climate of war than one of peace,” Bashir said.

“We will not resort to the choice of war unless it is forced on us and we will not initiate the option of war because war is attrition for us and them…..it will be a war of attrition hitting them before us” he added.

Last month, military sources revealed to Sudan Tribune that 700 officers warned Bashir and his defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein against rushing to war with South Sudan citing challenges facing the army.

(ST)