South Sudan says not part of Khartoum crisis, vows to protect its territories
March 4,2012, (JUBA) – South Sudan repeated its claim that it has nothing to do with the conflicts in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, South Kordofan state and Blue Nile state, all of which border the young nation.
After South Sudan seceded in July last year its party, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) says it cut ties with the northern sector of the party Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), which is now fighting the Sudanese military as part of an alliance with Darfur rebels.
Majak D’ Agoot, South Sudan’s deputy defence minister and one of the influential members of SPLM said, in an exclusive interview with Sudan Tribune, that his country does not have any part in the ongoing crisis in the neighbouring Sudan.
“We have said over and over again that we are not part of their crisis. They are making these allegations only to divert attention of the Sudanese citizens from their own failures”, Agoot told Sudan Tribune on Saturday in Juba.
He accused Sudan of having been the first to immediately violate the agreement which the countries signed in Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa in February.
Khartoum says that Juba violated the agreement by taking part in an attack on Jau, one of the many disputed territories along the poorly demarcated new international border. Juba denies this and the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of the three main Darfur rebel groups and the SPLM-N have claimed responsibility for the attack.
South Sudan has claimed that Khartoum supports the various rebellions in the seven month old country in an attempt to undermine the new nation in the hope that it will be able to regain control of the oil resources it lost with secession.
On 10 February 2012, the two countries, under negotiations brokered by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP), under the chairmanship of former South African president, Thambo Mbeki, signed a memorandum of understanding on non-aggression and cooperation.
The agreement encourages the two sides to respect each others sovereignty and territorial integrity and rejects the use of force in conducting their relations.
“Sudan became the first to immediately violate this agreement by launching ground attacks on Balbala area in Western Bahr el Ghazal State and bombed civilian population in Jau area in Unity State, just a day after the signing of the deal”, D’ Agoot said.
“We will not attack but we will never allow our territories to be invaded”, D’ Agoot pledged while explaining that his country remains committed to peaceful settlement of the pending issues which the two parties did not implement in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
South Sudan and Sudan still have to come to a deal on oil, debt, borders, citizenship and the disputed territory of Abyei.
(ST)