South Sudan says it will “embarrass” Sudan over support to rebel groups

July 22, 2013 (JUBA) – South Sudan said Monday it will embarrass the Sudanese government which accuses Juba of harbouring and providing support to the alliance of rebels groups that fight to topple Khartoum regime.

“This Khartoum (government) let them wait, we will embarrass them at broad light before the international community if they continue to lie without being ashamed that we support their rebels”, a top level military officer with South Sudanese Army (SPLA) told Sudan Tribune on Monday.

The officer, who is a member of the Joint Political and Security Committee (JPSC), said his country has a full list of evidence and testimonies showing the support the government of Sudan had provided to armed groups and political dissidents to struggling to remove the administration in Juba since secession.

“We do not want talk just for the sake of talking. We present the facts so that they talk for themselves and not the allegations. This is what we do when we meet at joint security meetings. We let them (Khartoum) talks and we come out with hard facts and humiliating evidence”.

“This is what we have been doing all this time”, stressed the officer who preferred anonymity because he is not authorised to talks to the press.

The Small Arms Survey, an independent research group, published last year different reports showing that weapons and ammunition used by the South Sudanese rebel groups are often from Sudanese factories or China.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese government establishes its accusations on intelligence reports about the movements of the Sudanese rebels and the logistical support they receive.

The South Sudanese official said joint security meetings have been postponed “until further notice” because Sudan has only one agenda “repeated and monotonous claims” that Juba supports Sudanese rebels.

He said it was the only matter the Sudanese delegation wanted to discuss, adding that the initial agenda was the establishment of joint crossing points and the evaluation of the implementation matrix.

The military disclosed that the meeting was scheduled to take place in Juba but the Sudanese side asked to move it to Addis Ababa.

Sudanese government informed Juba two weeks ago that it maintains its decision to freeze the implementation of the cooperation agreement and to shut down the pipeline on 7 August, urging Juba to stop its support to the rebel groups.

Khartoum also said that all the nine cooperation agreements should be implemented at the same time.

(ST)