Who initiates hostilities between two Sudans?
By Zechariah Manyok Biar
April 30, 2012 — These days, Sudanese officials (both within Sudan and outside it) claim that South Sudan is the initiator of aggressions. They base their argument on the recent takeover of Panthou (Heglig) by the SPLA. When the African Union (AU), for example, came up with its roadmap for the solution of border problems between the two states and referred the resolution to the UN Security Council to endorse it under Chapter VII, Sudan Ambassador to the UN said that the resolution should be directed against the aggressor (South Sudan). It is because of this that I am going to give some historical facts in this article so that the world can judge who the real aggressor is between the Sudan and South Sudan.
The main thing that Sudan capitalizes on is that South Sudan is supporting the rebels in Southern Kordufan and Blue Nile. But the history of the origin of the problem does not support this claim.
It is true that the current rebels in Southern Kordufan and Blue Nile were Brigade Nine and Ten of the SPLA. When South Sudan became independent, Sudan never wanted to consider two rights for these people. One was the issue of Popular Consultation stipulated in the CPA. The other one was the integration of the above mentioned Brigades into the Sudan Armed Forces. South Sudan was not involved in these processes, but it took all the blames.
On June 6, 2011 the SAF under the orders from the Government in Khartoum tried to disarm the SPLA-N by force, leading to the clashes between the two armies. That was the beginning of the SPLA-N rebellion against the Government in Khartoum. At that time, South Sudan was busy preparing for its independence, but Sudan still wanted to drag it into these problems.
Between September and November, 2011, Sudan bombed areas of Guffa, Yida, and Jamam within South Sudan, killing South Sudanese. It was bombing the refugees from Southern Kordufan against the international law governing refugees’ protection within South Sudan. But the Government in South Sudan did not react negatively against the violation of its airspace as a sovereign nation. It only condemned the bombings.
In the month of September, 2011, Sudan closed its borders with South Sudan. But what South Sudan Government did was to beg the Sudan not to interrupt the trade between the two countries. That never worked. It was clear that Sudan wanted South Sudanese in the Border States to have hard time in order to rise against the government in Juba. Still, South Sudan never reacted negatively.
On November 2, 2011, the Sudanese army captured the town of Kurmuk in the Blue Nile State after the SPLA-N in the area joined the rebellion against Khartoum. President Bashir visited Kurmuk on November 6, 2011 and threatened South Sudan with war. We did not do anything that provoked his comments against South Sudan. We heard his comments and did not react.
Sudanese did not think all the above was enough. They moved the fighting closer to the borders of South Sudan at Taruje and captured Jau deep inside South Sudan in December, 2011. The only thing South Sudan did was to complain to the international community, but nothing happened until the SPLA had to retake Jau by force.
On March 1, 2012, SAF bombed oil areas in Unity State, destroying some oil wells. South Sudan Government did not react negatively. It just complained to the international community. But Sudan went ahead and bombed many areas in Unity State on March 26, 2012 and attacked SPLA forces on the ground. The attack was repulse and the attackers were pursuit into Heglig. In less than a day, the President of South Sudan ordered the SPLA to pull back from Heglig. As a result, the Sudanese announced the suspension of flights from Khartoum to Juba to take effect on April 9, 2012, the day that citizenship rights of South Sudanese in the Sudan expired. We did nothing of the same.
Some days later, SAF bombed and attacked SPLA positions on April 10, 2012, provoking the SPLA to take over the disputed town of Heglig for ten days.
In reaction to the capture of Heglig, the Sudanese Parliament declared South Sudan as enemy state. To make matters worse, President Bashir called the Government of South Sudan a Government led by insects and called for its overthrow by all means. We did nothing of the same.
In compliance with the international community’s call for SPLA’s withdrawal from Heglig, the President of South Sudan ordered the SPLA to withdraw. But the Sudanese compensated the move with the announcement that they will never go back to the negotiating table.
When it comes to the supporting of rebels by both sides, the Small Arms Survey from Geneva found evidence that the weapons captured from South Sudanese rebels like South Sudan Democratic Movement (SSDM) and South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) marched weapons currently carried by SAF. The only thing that the same report said about South Sudan was that there were close ties between South Sudan and the SPLA-N. These ties are historical ties described above.
In all the above historical facts, how many times has South Sudan initiated aggression? I leave this question to my international readers to answer based on their free judgment. I would add that the facts shown above are easily verifiable.
Zechariah Manyok Biar lives in Juba, Republic of South Sudan. He can be reached at [email protected]