South Sudan army repulse four attempts to retake Heglig – spokesperson

April 19, 2012 (JUBA) – South Sudan’s army says it has repulsed four attacks by its northern neighbour to retake to the strategic oil area of Heglig – the region is claimed by both sides but has been occupied by southern forces for over a week.

In the face of international criticism Col Phillip Aguer, the spokesman of South Sudan’s army (SPLA) said on Thursday that his country was fighting “a just war” and that the morale of the military was high.

The SPLA “have so far repulsed four attacks by the Sudanese Armed Forces”, Aguer said; three on Wednesday and one on Thursday.

However, the spokesman for the Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF), Al-Sawarmi Khalid, told Reuters on Thursday that the northern army was now fighting “inside Heglig.”

Juba denies this and says that it forced SAF 23 kilometers away from Heglig.

“They are now in control of this area and are ready to go ahead but they have been instructed to wait”, said Aguer.

He added that two other SAF attacks took place in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and another in Western Bahr el Ghazal State on Thursday.

Both sides accuse the other of starting the fighting in late March that has since escalated dramatically.

Khartoum claims that Sudanese rebels backed by Juba helped the SPLA take Heglig a week ago. This is denied by Juba but photos from the Associated Press news agency appear to show fighters from Darfur rebel group the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Heglig on 15 April.

On Thursday the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) claimed it had launched an assault on the al-Kharsana oil region near Heglig. “We are surrounding the Sudanese army in the main military base in al-Kharsana,” JEM spokesman Gibreel Adam Bilal told Reuters by phone.

JEM’s claim was denied by Khalid, who told Reuters that the al-Kharsana area was free from fighting.

JEM, and two other Darfur rebel groups with the SPLM-North operating in South Kordofan and Blue Nile formed a coalition earlier this year aiming to overthrow the Khartoum regime. The SPLM-N fought with the SPLA in the Sudanese civil war, which ended in 2005 and are still backed by some elements of the Juba government according to research group the Small Arms Survey.

Juba denies this and says that Khartoum is using South Sudanese rebels as proxies to destabilise the young country, especially around its oil fields in Unity State. The Small Arms Survey also state that there is evidence that Khartoum is supporting these groups – although this is also denied.

(ST)