Khartoum threatens to pursue rebels inside South Sudan territory
December 12, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The director of Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamed Atta, said they have endured the support of South Sudan to Sudanese rebels for a long-time and threatened to pursue them “anywhere”.
Atta, who addressed the pro-government militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Nyala on Friday, warned neighbouring countries particularly South Sudan of the consequences of harbouring Sudanese rebels, saying “the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF will pursue rebels everywhere”.
“Khartoum has endured the support rendered by South Sudan to rebels for long-time out of respect for the neighbourly ties and the peace agreement but it is high time to pursue rebels who attack our country everywhere,” he added.
In November, South Sudanese authorities accused the Sudanese army of bombing Western Bahr el Ghazal’s Raja county. But the Sudan Armed Forces didn’t react to these claims.
Sources said SAF were targeting a camp of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in the area. Khartoum last April formally accused Juba of using the Darfurian rebel group to fight insurgents led by the former vice-president Riek Machar.
Officials in Juba also accuse Khartoum of backing the rebellion in the border states.
The defence minister, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, for his part, said the preparations of SAF and the RSF send a serious message to rebels and their collaborators inside Sudan and abroad.
He renewed rejection to demands of those who he called “enemies of Sudan” to dissolve the army, police and security and to cancel Shari’a law, saying the army and the regular forces are capable of defending the country.
Hussein who addressed the 16th infantry division in South Darfur state added they are ready to sacrifice their souls for the sake of defending Shari’s law.
He underscored that time has come to crush rebellion “so that people could devote themselves for development and reconstruction”.
The defence minister further emphasised that the second phase of the Decisive Summer campaign will end rebellion in all battlefronts, reiterating that SAF will not abandon “an inch” of the country’s territory.
Hussein praised the effective role played by RSF alongside the SAF in the battlefields, stressing the SRF is a “red line that we wouldn’t tolerate any one to cross it”.
“Following this majestic scenery which pleases our friends and vexes our enemies, I shall report to the president of the republic the readiness of SAF and the other regular forces to eradicate rebellion and declare the beginning of the second phase of the Decisive Summer campaign,” he said.
This month, military clashes escalated between the army and Sudan People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in South Kordofan following the collapse of the 9th round of peace talks between the two sides in Addis Ababa.
SAF has been battling the rebel SPLM-N in South Kordofan since 2011 and has also carried out intermittent attacks against several rebel groups in Darfur since 2003.
(ST)