South Sudan rebels deny receiving military support from Sudan
October 1, 2014 (JUBA) – South Sudanese rebels allied to former vice-president Riek Machar have dismissed reports that it received military and technical support from the government of neighbouring Sudan – from which the new nation seceded in 2011 – as “misleading propaganda”.
“There is no truth in all this misleading propaganda. It is just [a] desperate attempt by the government to deflect attention from the support that it provides the Sudanese rebels,” Akol told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday.
He said it was common knowledge that Sudanese rebels were fighting alongside regular troops from the South Sudanese army (SPLA) and that Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) fighters were present in Western Bahr el Ghazal’s Raja county and Paloich in Upper Nile state.
“It is a known fact that the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (SPLM/A-N) are still part of the government troops and this was why they fought us (rebels) in Unity state and Upper Nile,” he added.
Akol was reacting to reports quoting Sudan’s first vice-president, Bakri Hassan Saleh, in which he said that his regime “recognises the opposition liaison office in Sudan and asked [that] all organs be required to provide protection and security to them”.
“I met Riek Machar, Dhieu Mathok and Taban Deng Gai (lead rebel negotiator) and they are regretting the decision to separate the South and we decided to return his house to him. He (Riek Machar) requested us to assist him and that he has [a] shortage in military intelligence personnel, operations command and tank technicians. We must use the many cards we have against the South in order to give them [an] unforgettable lesson,” Saleh reportedly told a meeting of predominantly senior members of the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) in late August.
REBELS REQUESTED WEAPONS
SAF’s chief of joint general staff, first Lt. Gen. Hashim Abdalla Mohammed, who also attended the meeting, said that they would provide the support on the condition that SAF can agree on common objectives with pro-Machar rebels.
In the alleged minutes from the meeting Mohammed confirms that a request had been received from rebel forces for military training, equipment and advanced weaponry.
“We must change the balance of forces in South Sudan. Riek, Taban and Dhieu Mathok came and requested support in the areas of training in military intelligence, and especially in tanks and artillery,” Mohammad is quoted as reportedly saying.
“Our reply was that we have no objection, provided that we agree on a common objective. Then we [will] train and supply [rebels] with the required weapons.”
However, Akol refutes the authenticity of the alleged minutes of the meeting, in which senior members of the opposition movement are purportedly quoted as asking for military support from the Sudanese government.
“I would first and foremost like to say that the conflict is becoming a lucrative business and as such it becomes a source of living for some people who can just coin anything and come up with it so long as it reflects the interest of the government of [president] Salva Kiir,” he said.
“We know there are foreign firms and individuals who have signed up agreements with the government in Juba to provide [an] advocacy campaign against the [opposition] movement and the cause of our people, so I am not surprised to hear about such imaginary reports,” he added.
PEACE MISSION
According to Akol, the rebel leaders’ visit to Khartoum was part of a peace mission initiative by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which is mediating negotiations between the two warring parties.
“It is within this framework that our chairman (Machar) and some comrades started with Ethiopian authorities and went to Kenya, South Africa and Djibouti before he came to Khartoum. The same mission took our comrades to Uganda. And actually our comrades stayed in Uganda for longer period than the chairman had in Sudan. Does that mean Uganda provides support to us [too]?” he said.
“I think this is just an imaginary report to create confusion and it should be considered part of the misleading propaganda of the government through its international lobbying groups,” he added.
When asked to comment on the matter, a senior government official told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday that it was difficult to deny that Machar and his group had met with Sudanese officials in Khartoum.
He suggested it was possible the Sudanese government had deliberately leaked discussions that occurred at the meeting.
“You know, I am in the government and know how the system of government works. In the government there are things which are never disclosed to the public by the government officials. And if you want to test the general reaction of some of the issues discussed behind the door, one of the ways is leaking [information publicly],” he said.
“I am not saying this is what the government of Sudan has done in the case of this allegation. What I am saying is that it can be possible,” he added.
The cabinet minister also conceded that the report reflects the general feeling of most government officials based on the legacy of past wars with Sudan.
“If you go out to the street and ask the general views, I believe most people would agree with this allegation because of the legacy of the past civil wars with Sudan. You can actually see the question asked about the common objective as the condition for providing support as one of the evidences,” he said.
“What people ask now, what is that common objective that the government of Sudan wants to agree with [the] rebels of Riek Machar? A lot of interpretations have been made and some people have interpreted it to mean this common objective to unity of the country with Sudan or [to] make concessions of the disputed areas to the Sudanese government,” he added.
FIGHT FOR OIL
Anthony Sebit, a Juba-based political commentator, said it was difficult to deny or confirm the authenticity of the minutes as Sudan has not made any public comment on the matter.
“Regardless of the credibility of this allegation, none of us can be surprised considering the desperate situation in which the warring parties are. Each one of them tries to gain the edge over the other,” he said.
“It beats common sense to figure out what the opposition would do when they feel that the government receives external [assistance] in the conflict. They would certainly do the same regardless of the consequences provided that the end justifies the means,” he added.
Sebit also explained that objective of Sudan may not necessarily be intended to reunite the two countries, but could mean it is seeking to use South Sudanese rebels to take up positions in contested areas along the border.
He notes that the rebel faction is desperate to gain foreign support for its efforts to seize control of oil facilities given the South Sudanese government’s dependence on oil revenues to run state institutions and fund external military support.
(ST)