South Sudan says will not fold arms if Sudan launches invading attacks
June 12, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan said Wednesday it will not fold arms if the government of neigbouring Sudan with which it is engaged in oil dispute, launches invading attacks targeting territory believed to resource rich areas.
“The position of the Republic of South Sudan as you have heard it from President Salva Kiir Mayardit, in his state address on Monday, is very clear. This is the position of the government and the people of this country. We are not after anything else a part from peaceful relations. We are for peaceful dialogue as a means for resolving dispute and peaceful co-existence between Sudan and South Sudan, south Sudanese minister of information and broadcasting service”, Barnaba Marial Benjamin said Wednesday.
Minister Marial, however, quoted president Kiir warning during a state address that his country would not fold arms if Sudan continues to engage in aggressive behaviours and carry out invading attacks on its territory. “We have constitutional obligation as a democratically elected government to protect the territory of this country and its citizens with their properties from any foreign aggression. We will not attack but will not accept being attacked and expected to fold our arms when our people and their properties are attacked. We will do anything within our capacity to safeguard their safety”, he said.
Marial made the remarks at a briefing during which he stated position of the government that it was not in any interested in returning the country to “senseless war” but that it was time to consolidate peace and build the new nation he said was created as a result of devastating civil wars with Sudan.
“The president clearly stated that he will not return the citizens of this country to senseless war. It is we are afraid to fight. We know our people can fight but this is the position of our government. The position of the government is what I have said already that we are peaceful coexistence with Sudan. We know what war has done to the people of Sudan and South Sudan. The citizens in both Sudan and South Sudan need peace. If you ask any citizen in Sudan, he or she will definitely tell you that they are not interested in war. So why would you go against the interest of the majority”, he asked.
Marial, who speaks for the government as it official spokesperson, wondered why Sudan was mobilising for jihad, explaining that Jihad means holy war to protect the gains and the threats to Islam as a religion.
President Bashir ordered closure of the oil from transiting Sudan to the international markets because of the unfounded claims that we support rebels fighting them and went as far calling for mobilization of the Sudanese people to fight jihad which means holy war to protect the gains and threats to Islam. He is calling Jihad to fight who. If it is the rebel in Sudan, then he should know they are also Muslim. If it is for South Sudan then he should know that we are not against anybody and therefore do not want to fight senseless war. We are committed to the implementation of the cooperation and the implementation matrix; he explained describing president Bashir’s remarks in which he described South Sudanese a fool as “irresponsible and racial statement”
Sudanese president Bashir last week on Saturday 8th accused South Sudan of providing support to the coalition of Sudanese rebels fighting to remove his government from power and install new regime.
“We gave them their country with all the resources and instead of focusing on building it, they decided to follow and support fools like them. We will now close the pipeline and after that it is up to them to take it to Kenya or through Djibouti or wherever”, Bashir said at a rally held north of Sudanese capital Khartoum which was broadcast by the national television stationed in the city of Omdurman.
The remarks angered most South Sudanese with senior government officials viewing it as racial statements they did not expect a head of state to have uttered against a neigbouring country
“These are irresponsible statements which we did not expect to have come from the president. First of all I would like to repeat that we do not provide any support to the Sudanese rebels. What the government of Sudan is doing the spread of unfounded allegations. They do not have any single evidence that shows we provide any support to these groups until this moment. They are only relying on rumours. Second to this is that we are not foolish. They know that we are intelligent people to the extent they realized they cannot deceive anymore. It is this intelligence which they are not happy with us now, because they are no longer succeeding in deception and spreading lies”, Marial explained.
Marial said Sudan wants his country to reject hosting refugees which according to him was against international humanitarian law and the right any human being to live where he would feel safe.
“Sudan is manufacturing all these lies because we are not accepting them. They want us to chase away the refugees we are hosting in Upper Nile and Unity States. It is these refugees who flood our markets and other public places along the borders which consider as rebels”, he explains.
(ST)