Gunmen kill South Kordofan speaker

July 6, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Gunmen killed the speaker of Sudan’s South Kordofan State parliament Ibrahim Blendiah on Friday while he was inspecting agricultural projects in the troubled state on Friday.

Blendiah was ambushed in Kuttn, a village located at 37 km south of Dilling. Seven people accompanying him were also killed including Faisal Bashir, secretary general of the state’s strategic planning council, Ali Mattar, former commissioner of Shaikan town, an individual called Abdel Rahaman Kabsour, a cameraman and three drivers.

Sudanese authorities accused the rebel Sudan people’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) of murdering Blendiah, but the rebel group denied in a short statement any link with the incident.

The corpses of the eight victims will be buried today in the state capital Kadugli in presence of a high ranking personality, which sources say might be the vice-president al-Haj Adam Youssef.

Belndiah was a former SPLM-N member who defected from the rebel group and joined the ruling National Congress Party.

The SPLM-N and the Sudanese military have been fighting since June 2011 when the army attempted to disarm the SPLM-N fighters who refused saying the security arrangements provided for in the disarmament process should only take place after popular consultations were complete.

South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where the SPLM-N is also fighting the government, were granted special status under the 2005 peace deal that allowed South Sudan to seceded a year ago.

They two sides refused to hold talks on the basis of a framework agreement they signed on 28 June 2011. The NCP later rejected the deal.

The UN Security Council demands that line with a roadmap designed by the African Union the differences between the two SPLM parties in South and north Sudan and the Sudanese government by resolved by 2 August.

(ST)