South Sudan army denies participating in South Kordofan’s attack
February 27,2012, (JUBA)- South Sudan’s army on Monday strongly denied reports alleging that it has participated in the fight involving coalition of Sudanese rebel groups from neighbouring Sudan in South Kordofan state.
“The fighting that lasted several hours on Sunday was purely a clash between coalition of Sudanese rebel groups within Sudanese territory. The SPLA did not in any way take part. It took place 4 miles away from South Sudan territory”, Aguer said.
The senior military officer further said that the Sudanese army is known for “defying and violating” bilateral agreements.
“How many agreements have they [government in Khartoum] violated? They just violated memorandum of understanding on non-aggression and cooperation which the two parties signed recently in Addis Ababa, by bombing Jau and launched ground attack on Balbala in Western Bahr el Ghazal,” explained Aguer.
“Everybody knows this. The international community knows it well that Khartoum does not respect agreements and so it should actually be the government of South Sudan to complain to the international community including Security Council of the United Nations of Khartoum’s behaviour towards the Republic of South Sudan”, he asserted.
Nhial Deng Nhial, the country’s minister of foreign affairs, also refuted claims made by Sudanese government in which it accused Southern army of participating in the clashes.
“This is not correct. The SPLA did not take part in the fighting. We do not support war. We have said this time and again that political differences between the two states cannot be resolved through the use of violence”, Nhial told reporters in Juba.
Marial Benjamin, minister of information and broadcasting also described Khartoum’s accusations as mere “covers”.
The fighting took place four miles away from Jau which is an area inside territory of the republic of South Sudan, Marial said.
None of the officials commented on statements made by commissioner of Pariang County Mabeak Lang Bilkuei in which he said that SPLA managed to expel Sudanese army out of Jau after intense fighting on Sunday.
Jau is a region along the poorly defined borders claimed by both countries. Last year Juba accused Khartoum of illegally occupying it and submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council (UNSC) protesting it.
Yesterday, the Sudan Revolutionary Forces (SRF), an alliance of rebel groups including the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) and the Darfur rebels Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdel Wahid Nur (SLM-AW), and the Sudan Liberation Movement of Minni Arkoi Minnawi (SLM-MM), claimed to have taken control of Jau town and Toroge areas in South Kordofan.
The statements made by Pariang County commissioner will likely embarrass the rebels who insist that they received no backing from South Sudan.
Sudan’s army said yesterday that fighting is ongoing in Buhairat Al-Abiyad at Jau town and reiterated allegations to Juba of involvement.
Today the Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail said that all options are on the table, including the military one in a response to South Sudan’s “aggression”.
“South Sudan bears the full responsibility in this attack. South Sudan government should stop refuting and lying. It should acknowledge if it has enough courage to bear the responsibility and its consequences,” said Ismail according to Xinhua news agency.
“We were attacked and we will no doubt respond to this aggression to defend our land. We will adopt all steps and there is no closed course for us. We will file complaints to the UN Security Council, the African Union and the committee supposed to monitor the security agreement recently signed between the two countries on refraining from attacking the border”.
(ST)