UN report confirms South Sudan support to Darfur rebels, Khartoum
March 5, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign ministry has renewed its accusations that Juba supports Sudanese rebel groups, saying a recent United Nations report confirmed their presence in South Sudan.
A UN panel of independent experts established since 2005 to monitor the arms embargo said in a report released recently says that the Sudanese Air Force uses a new weapons system, S-8 air-to-ground rockets with thermobaric warheads, “which implies a quantum leap in their effectiveness”.
The report further says the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) established “a large base for around 800 armed fighters” outside Bentiu, capital of Unity State and also another base in Timshaha in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State.
“This report represents a testimony of an international body that cannot be accused of being biased to Sudan”, said the new spokesperson of the Sudanese foreign ministry Abubakr Al-Sideeg Mohamed Al-Amin on Tuesday.
Al-Amin went to add that Sudan has been demanding that South Sudan should refrain from hosting rebel movements and to disengage with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), as provided in the agreements signed by the two countries.
Reacting to this report, Hamid Sideeg, head of the Organisational Secretariat of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) ruled out any move from the United Nations following this report adding that hostility towards Sudan “comes mainly from the UN Security Council”. It was the UN Security Council that referred the war in Darfur to the International Criminal Court in 2005 leading the indictment of senior officials including President Omar al-Bashir.
The two neighbours signed a security arrangements on 27 September 2012 providing to activate a buffer zone on the border but failed to implement as well as the other remaining deals.
The United States and other western countries have in the past called on Juba to stop its support to Sudanese rebel groups but South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011 has dismissed the accusations and denied harbouring or supporting them.
(ST)