Sudan vows to continue war in S. Kordofan until the end
March 4, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The first Sudanese Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha said that the ongoing military conflict in the border state of South Kordofan was imposed upon the state and was not something they pushed for.
Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) are still battling insurgencies which broke out last year in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, which lie on the borders with the newly created state of South Sudan.
Rebels from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) claim that the fighting in the two states was instigated by SAF. Khartoum declared the leaders of the rebels, ex-Blue Nile governor Malik Agar and ex-South Kordofan deputy governor Abdel Aziz al-Hilu as outlaws.
Sudan also accused its southern neighbour of providing support to the rebels who say they want to topple the government in Khartoum. Sudanese officials warned that all options are on the table to respond to the South’s “aggression” including military ones.
SPLM-N fought alongside the forces of what is now the South’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) during Sudan’s two decades of civil war which ended with a peace deal in 2005 and led to Southern secession in 2011.
It is now part of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) umbrella group which includes Darfur rebels.
In a related issue, South Kordofan’s governor Ahmed Haroun said that the SPLM-N is looking at the entire Sudan and not just his state.
Haroun stressed that the recent attack staged by what he said was SPLM-N along with South Sudan’s army, as well as this week’s International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant against defence minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein was not a coincidence but part of a sabotage plot that would ultimately lead to the removal of the regime.
He revealed that they got their hands on documents showing rebels plans to take over South Kordofan and then march all the way to Khartoum, in a Libyan style scenario.
The governor said they are open to demands of the Nuba people but that the current events have nothing to do with that. He further pointed out that the environment now is not conducive to political process.
“The conditions are not ripe for political action,” Haroun said.
SAF spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa’ad today also said the army has the upper hand in the state.
Yesterday Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir vowed to liberate SPLM-N stronghold of Kauda in South Kordofan and ordered mobilisation of Popular Defense Forces (PDF) across the country.
(ST)