Benjamin denied accusing Bashir of pledging to support rebels. Sudan’s FM
August 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – South Sudanese foreign minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin has denied that he had accused Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir of pledging to support rebel leader Riek Machar, a Sudanese official stated on Monday.
He said that Bashir made his threats in a meeting with the South Sudanese vice-president James Wani Igga after a repeating accusations that Juba harbours and supports the Sudanese rebel groups in clear violation of the signed security agreements.
Speaking to reporters at Khartoum airport after the return of President al-Bashir from Addis Ababa where he participated in a meeting of IGAD leaders on the South Sudanese peace process, foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour said his counterpart Benjamin denied having said such accusations.
“I met the South Sudan’s foreign minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin and we had a discussion where he assured me that he did not make this statement,” Ghandour said.
“From my side I stressed that the president of the republic did not say that Sudan will support South Sudanese opposition and that he is against the peace in South Sudan,” he added.
The minister further pointed that Bashir supports the regional and international efforts to end the inter-South Sudanese conflict and directed him to participate in the meeting with U.S. president Barak Obama and the IGAD recent meeting in Kampala before to travel personally to Addis Ababa for three-day consultations with regional leaders, ahead of the deadline of 17 August for the signing of a peace agreement between the warring parties.
Ghandour said Bashir contributed with his IGAD counterparts to narrow the gabs between the warring parties in South Sudan,. He expressed hope that the proposed peace agreement brings security and peace in the neighbouring country and the whole region.
Representatives of Kiir and Machar have been negotiating in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa since August 6 under the autopsies of an international mediation team (IGAD Plus) led by the regional bloc, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The conflict in South Sudan which erupted in December 2013 has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than two million.
The Sudanese top diplomat further disclosed that the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will organize a meeting between him and Benjamin to discuss bilateral relations on 8 and 9 September.
He also added that he agreed with his South Sudanese counterpart to hold further discussions on the sidelines of UN General Assembly which will open on 15 September 2015.
(ST)